Ever After
by IntensityxIntended
Summary: Just when things seemed to finally fall together-the contracts nulled, the Lich defeated, their children born, and the war over-everything fell apart. Marshall Lee and Fionna were forced to make a life-changing decision, and their whole family paid the price. Will they ever be able to return to normalcy? **Lemon Part 6/6
1. Chapter 1: Inconsolable

*****ABOUT THE FIRST PART, THE OTHER OPTION: The admins have removed the first part of this series from the site, which is why you can only find 5 out of 6 stories. I'm really sorry about that, guys. If you want a general overview of the first story, go ahead and message me and I'll send it to you. I'm going to try to post it somewhere else and post a link to it so ya'll can find it. Thank you so much for reading my work!*****

**Author's Note: Welcome back everyone! So, I know that for, like, the last 3 stories I've been saying it was the last one, and even though I'm pretty sure this will be it, I refuse to say it this time lol.**

**For those of you just joining in, this is the 6th part of a "so far" 6 part story. If you want to know what's going on, you should probably at least skim through The Other Option, What Was Hidden, This World Is Not Enough, A Daughter's Revenge, and A New Beginning. Those were the preludes to what's happening here, and I'm pretty sure this story will make much more sense if you read the others first lol.**

**For those of you who've stuck with me and have ready all my stories, well, I really can't thank you enough for your inspiration. I know I say that in every author's note, but really, you guys are the reason I'm still writing :D**

**So here goes the general warnings: **

**1) This has *lemony* content. If you're not into smut, there are probably going to be a few chapters to skip over.  
2) I do not own nor have any rights to Adventure Time, it's characters, plot, or environment.**

Okay okay okay, enough of me babbling. Have fun, everyone! Let me know what you think :D

I couldn't do it. I didn't know how. I didn't know what to say or how to act or what to be. I just felt… empty. I couldn't answer their questions or look them in the eyes. All I could do was mutter to myself, "He's gone."

Gumball, no doubt, was in the same place I was. He saw it, too. He heard what Marshall said, saw how Marshall looked, watched as Marshall pulled the amulet over his head and announced his new position as the King of the Nightosphere. We both saw the pride in Hannah's face as she forced him into it.

"… please… don't come after me."

My heart twisted and ached and seared in pain whenever I thought of those last few seconds, whenever I saw his smiling face in my head or heard his beautiful voice in my ears. It was the only feeling I could grasp to, so I tormented myself with it all the time.

No, he wasn't dead. It might have been easier if he was. He was just… gone.

I spent my days in a haze, a fake smile painted on my face for the good of my children and my people. Every once in a while, I'd see the same haze blocking out Gumball's mind, the same smile painted on his face. But at night, we wept. We held each other and wept over our lost lover.

"I should have saved him! I should have killed her and ended it!" I would cry into his sobbing chest.

"Why did he go? Why did he have to leave us like that? Why _him_?" Gumball would answer in a plea of his own.

The days and weeks and months passed, and no one heard or saw anything of Marshall. Where did he go? When is he coming back?

"Mommy! We miss Daddy Marshall! When is he coming home?" That… that was the hardest thing I've ever faced. How… how do you tell your kids that their father is never coming home? That he's gone forever, and that they didn't get to say goodbye? How do you tell them… that to save them… their father sacrificed everything?

Seeress knew. She saw it happen. When Hannah lifted the veils of shadows from her being, she let all the seeing eyes find her, watch her, see her for what she was. She had been blocking Seeress's vision for some time, keeping Seeress from seeing anything Hannah did. That's why we couldn't see her during the war. That's why Seeress couldn't tell me who was after my children. Hannah had this planned all along.

Out of compassion, or maybe just pity, Seeress explained to the children where Marshall went. "Your father is going to be gone for a very, very long time, children," she said gently, sitting with them in her room with her mirrors surrounding them. "You see, he is a king of a great kingdom, and he has to take care of things there for a while. He had to leave right away, but he wanted you all to know just how much he loved you." Her words were kind and sweet, and easy for the children to comprehend.

"Which kingdom is he in, Seeress? Surely we've encountered every king and queen of all the 52 kingdoms," Felix said in his serious, educated manner.

"He is… not in this world, Felix. He is in a place like Ooo, but not as friendly," she replied, staying calm and collected. In her years of living with us, her cold, stone-like demeanor slowly melted away, and she was able to sugar coat hard news for the children much better than she used to.

"So when can we visit him? Daddy still owes me a wrestling match for embarrassing me at the ball," Ember demanded, crossing her arms and pouting.

"We cannot go to his realm, Ember. He is in a place we cannot reach in safety." Seeress was getting nervous, balancing her words carefully so the perceptive children wouldn't see through her.

"Then when is he coming back, Seeress? He's already been gone for 3 months. Don't you think that's long enough?" Lilly laid her questioning gaze on Seeress's face, beginning to piece things together quicker than anyone would have anticipated.

"I am sorry, children, but I cannot see that right now," was all Seeress said, her face turning back to stone, being unreadable and impenetrable.

With big, heaving sighs, the children said they understood, and quickly left the cold room.

They tried talking to me about it. Seeress tried talking to me about it. Even Sam tried talking to me about it. I just… couldn't. I couldn't speak his name or remember that night without feeling like my heart would implode. So instead I smiled politely and said, "We'll talk about it later."

Gumball was the only one I wanted to talk to. He was the only one who felt the way I did about it. We had both lost such a huge piece of our lives, like losing a part of our very being. They say that when you find a soul mate, losing them is enough to kill you. Old couples who've been together forever will die within the same month of each other, just because they were never meant to be apart. I don't know how it works with two soul mates, but losing one… it was unbearable.

Sometimes, in my darkest hours, I wished I could be like those old couples. I wished I could just… stop existing. But then, like an instinctual reaction, pictures and memories of my beautiful children, all the love that I have for them and for Gumball and Seeress and Sam and the people in Ooo… it all flooded my mind, and I knew that even if I had a chance, I would never let myself go. For their sakes.

But then… then I hate myself. I hate myself for not taking that offer, for not letting Hannah erase our minds of him and letting us all live in peace. I knew Gumball hated me for it too, and I knew that one day, when the kids figured it out, they would hate me just as much. Because I was selfish, and because I wasn't thinking clearly, because I never could have anticipated how hard this was… I let those memories of him stay. His face was always there in my head; his seductive grin, the way his fangs poked at his lip, the glow of his red eyes, the way they shined through the shaggy black hair… and his music. His sweet, melodic, beautiful music, and the way his voice sang out in all its power and feeling. I could still hear him singing to me, all the time. He always used his voice and bass to express whatever he was feeling, and right now, I wished he would sing to me.

I wished he would sing to me of sorrow, of hatred, of grief and agony. At least then I could share with him something that made him happy.

"I miss him so much, Fionna," Gumball said to me one night several months later as we laid in bed, waiting for the tears to flood us.

"I know… I…" It was so hard for me to speak. With every passing minute I felt more and more guilty. I felt like I was the one who plunged us into this dark abyss, like I was the one who doomed us to this torment of memories.

"I want to forget him. No, not forget him. I want to leave him behind and move on with my life. How much easier it would be if we could just _not_ remember him. But… but I can't. Even if we had that chance again, I couldn't just _forget_ him." Gumball rambled, his voice shaking and his warm tears running down his cheeks, settling in my hair as I wept against his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Gumball. I… I should have just let her do it. I should have just let her take our memories. No matter where I look, I see his face. In the wind or the chatter of the people around us, I hear his voice. I didn't—I didn't think it would be this hard…" I clutched the sheets and buried my face into them, letting the sobs rake through me.

Gumball held me close against him, comforting me as best he could. "Ssshhh, Fionna, please don't cry. It's not your fault."

"But it is! It's all my fault, Gumball! If I would have just let Hannah take our memories, we wouldn't feel this way! I—I look at Ember and Lilly, and I see so much of him in them. It's like—like he's smiling up at me through their eyes, and… I hate them for it! I hate my own children, because of something I was too weak to prevent!" I screamed it into his chest, into the sheets, letting all of the build-up wash over me and spill into a pool of confessions.

Gumball sat straight up, pulling me up with him and holding my face in his hands so I was forced to look him in the eyes. His cheeks were flushed and stained with tears, and his mouth was set in a hard, stone line. "This is _not_ your fault, Fionna. Do you hear me? This isn't your fault! This is Hannah's fault! _She's_ the one who did this, not you. And those girls, they're our life, Fionna. They're the reason we live. Without them and Felix, what would we become? If you must feel hatred for what happened, do NOT take it out on them, or on yourself. Remember who did this to us. If we forget that, then what we've truly lost is our love and humanity. Not Marshall." He let his hands fall to my shoulders and his gaze fall to the sheets. Then, slowly, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in to him, holding me tight and shaking against me, whispering into my neck. "He was a part of us, a part of our everything. To forget that would be the real loss. You made the right decision, Fionna. No matter how much it hurts."

I clung to him. I crushed him to me and entwined my fingers in his hair, holding him as close to me as physically possible. It was like a massive weight had lifted, or the stone around me had cracked. I didn't realize how much I needed him, how much he thought about this and how he truly felt. Even if it was just for a moment, I felt relief. I picked my head up and kissed him passionately, molding my lips to his and pouring everything I had into our embrace.

He reminded me of something I had almost forgotten; no matter where Marshall is, he is still a part of our everything. To lose sight of that would be to lose a piece of us. So what if it hurt? So what if the pain was unbearable? Nothing could be worse than losing everything about him. Even if we just had memories, that would always be better than having nothing at all.

I missed him. I missed him so much. I missed him so much that it hurt. But I couldn't forget what he really was to us.


	2. Chapter 2: Thank You

The next morning, after we sent the children off to their studies with their tutors and Gumball and I took care of the royal business of the day, he and I sat together in the observatory, letting the warm light of the sun bathe us through the opened shutters on the glass dome ceiling. I had a cup of hot tea in my hands, the steam helping me to stay focused on the thoughts I entertained in my head.

I thought about what Gumball had said the night before, about how it wasn't my fault. Logically, when it came right down to it, of course it was Hannah's fault. She was the one who used our children as bait to trick Marshall into taking her place. But… if this _had_ to happen, if there was _no way_ around it, then in reality, it really was my fault that it happened the way it did. I agree with Gumball that to remember Marshall, even like this, was better than losing him. But could we have avoided this? Why wasn't I watching the girls that night? Why didn't I keep them close by, _knowing_ The Seeress's prophecy hadn't come true yet? Why didn't I force a contract with Hannah, making it so that he would only be there for half a year or something? There were a million ways that night could have turned out, but instead, it happened like this.

"Fionna, do you want to talk about it?" Gumball asked from his seat next to me. He reached over and laid his hand on my lap, stroking my thigh gently with his thumb so I would pay attention to him.

"It's just… even if it's not my fault, I still could have changed it. I could have done something differently, so this wouldn't have happened the way it did. I just… feel like a fool." I laid one of my warmed up hands on his, wrapping my fingers around the edge of his palm, holding him tenderly.

Gumball let out a big, heavy sigh, and reached over to pull my chin towards him, making me look at him. "I know this is new to you, Fionna. You're not used to being the one left behind. You're the one who always made that final sacrifice. I've almost lost you for good so many times, and each time I thought I would never be able to live right again. We just… have to learn to be strong. Now, more than ever, because we have three beautiful children who need us. We can do this, Fionna. I promise." For the first time in months, his smile had a degree of warmth to it.

I looked at him in wonder and disbelief. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe how blind I'd been, and how strong and compassionate he was being for me. He was right! There had been at least two dozen times where I left them behind, left them to wallow in misery, to let them think they'd never see me again. And each time they had to go through what I was going through. They had to experience what I was experiencing. I had always been so caught up in saving them, so caught up in being the hero, that I never stopped to consider what they might feel like once I was gone.

I set my cup down on the table next to us and hid my face in my hair. Slowly I stood up, letting the loose, flowing summer dress that I wore to the meeting earlier fall to my feet, and stood in front of him. "Gumball, I—I'm so sorry. I never… I never thought…" I collapsed onto his lap, straddling him and burying my face into his neck, letting the tears wash down my face once again. "I can't believe how selfish I've been! All those times I thought I was saving you, and really I was just leaving you behind. I never, _ever_ wanted to make you feel like this, Gumball! I'm so sorry…" I cried and sobbed into his shoulder, gripping the folds of his shirt tightly in my hands.

He wrapped his arms around me, gently stroking my back in circles, shushing me and cooing me, trying to calm me down. "It's alright, Fionna," he soothed, pulling the long, messy blonde hair away from my face. "It's alright. You always came back to us. You've always been our hero." Again, he pulled my face up so he could look me in the eyes, a warm, generous smile on his beautiful pink lips. "You did what you thought was right, and never once did I doubt you. For all the pain and heart break I've endured, I've had happiness and joy a million times better, a million times longer. I felt pain because I loved you and nearly lost you, but I always knew you did it for all the right reasons, and who am I to question you?"

Through my tears I smiled down at him, laying my hand on his face and following the curve of his lips with my thumb. "I don't deserve you, Gumball. I really, really don't," I sniffled, letting the weight I'd put on myself lift itself up.

"You deserve the world, my love," he replied, pulling my face down to his with ease. He kissed me softly, sweetly, letting me feel through his lips everything he felt for me. I felt his love, his warmth, his kindness, his sympathy, his pure and utter strength. All this time I thought I was the strongest of us, but Gumball… he'd been through and came out on top of more than I could ever imagine. And he still had the strength left over to tell me it would be alright.

I crossed my arms around his neck, melting into him, letting the sweet taste of his lips fill my mouth. He slid his hands down to my hips, stroking them softly, letting his fingers trail down to and squeeze the fleshy bits that he loved so much. Out of instinct I let my hips roll back and forth in his hands, like I was dancing for him, bidding him to explore more of me. He made me feel like a person again, and, past all the hurt and torment I was feeling over losing Marshall, somewhere inside of me, I wanted to make Gumball feel just as good as he made me feel.

He let his hands glide down my hips, along my thighs, to the edge of my dress. With his lips still locked to mine, he slipped his fingers under the hem and gently tugged it up to my thighs. I adjusted for him, letting him pull the skirt of my dress wherever he wanted it to be. Gently, tenderly, I ran my hands across his neck and down to his chest, sneaking my fingers in between the gaps between his shirt buttons, tugging on the buttons one my one to reveal his beautiful pink chest. Carefully, Gumball glided his warm hands up under my dress, to the small of my back, pulling his lips away from me so he could look over my tear-stained face.

"You are so beautiful, even when your eyes are filled with sadness," he whispered, leaning in again to lay gentle, tender kisses on my neck.

I tilted my head for him, letting my guard down, letting myself just feel the moment, feel the now. I wanted to feel him, to be with him, to focus all of my energy and love and spirit on him. In the midst of all our sadness and all our pain, I felt like I'd almost forgotten about Gumball. But he… he never forgot about me. I never wanted to get that close to leaving him behind again.

I trailed my fingertips down his chest, down his stomach, and stopped at the button tab on his pants. As I did, he let his hands travel to the hooks of my bra, undoing them and eagerly sliding his hands around to cup my breasts. He pinched and tugged on my nipples, stroked and massaged my breasts with care and gentleness. By nature he was a tender man, and at a time like this, I couldn't ask him to be anything different.

He took his hands out from beneath my dress and pulled the sleeves down, making the dress and my bra drop down to my hips, exposing my top half to him as I straddled him in the chair. He ran his hands up and down my arms and sides and stomach, reveling in every inch of my body, running his eyes over every bit of my flesh. I let him look and touch for a minute before I lifted myself off of him and sat on my knees on the floor in front of him.

Seductively, I ran my hands up and down his thighs, letting them teasingly trail over his hard, waiting manhood. Then I hooked my fingers into the waistband of his pants, and with his help, I tugged off all the clothes on his lower half, leaving them to sit at his ankles. In front of me sat the strongest man I'd ever met, and one of the men I loved. As he looked down at me, want and affection covering his face, I thought to myself what I lucky woman I really was.

I leaned over his lap, letting my breasts glide across his bare thighs, and gently trickled my tongue over his hard, warm shaft. He squirmed in the seat at my touch, grasping the arms of it as he bit his lip and closed his eyes. I smiled to myself, letting myself feel good for making this wonderful, loving man feel pleasure, then I slipped his tip into my mouth. I licked it and sucked it gently, taking my time, working my way down his shaft, massaging him with my lips and tongue. He let out short little moans and gasps, rolling his hips this way and that, his body telling me he wanted more. I glided my mouth up and down, keeping my tongue soft so it felt like velvet against him, trying to get as much of him in my mouth as I could before he blocked out my airways. With one last long lick, I pulled myself off of him and stood up.

I let him watch me as I slipped the rest of my clothing off, standing bare in front of him, the sunlight bathing my knee-length blonde hair and creamy skin. He held his hands out to me, bidding me to come to him, and I couldn't refuse. With his length in my hand, I positioned myself to straddle him in the chair, my knees caught between his legs and the arms of the seat. Gently, I lowered myself on to him. As his tip pushed through my wet, wanting slit, I let out a small gasp, and slid him deeper inside of me, until I was left sitting fully on his lap.

He placed his hands on my hips, guiding them back and forth as I rocked on top of him, feeling him, enjoying him, knowing that in this very small way I could make him feel good, too. I bent towards him, locking my lips to his, our heavy breaths mingling in a flurry of heat and passion. He moaned against my lips and I moaned against his as I rocked my body on top of him slowly, creating a sensual, perfect rhythm. I wanted to be with him, to enjoy him, to show him how much I loved him with my body, and so I kept a steady rolling pace, letting him slip back and forth inside of me.

I entwined my fingers into his hair, pulling his head back from our kiss so I could see his lidded eyes and lusty look, so he could see my face and see how much he meant to me. He raised one hand from my hips to my face, laying his thumb on my parted lips. Gently, I sucked his thumb into my mouth, moaning against it, licking it tenderly with my tongue and nibbling lightly with my teeth. I could see in his face how much he loved this, how much he loved having so much of himself inside of me. He wrapped his other arm around my back, holding me down onto him and pulling his thumb from my mouth to add to the hold. Slowly, he rocked his hips with mine, pumping into me from underneath, keeping his eyes locked on mine so he could see my every reaction. It was like we'd come together like a perfectly working machine; my hips rolled back and forth and his hips pumped up and down. Even with the slow, loving rhythm, I could feel the pleasure build inside of me.

"I love you so much, Gumball," I whispered, leaning down to lay gentle kisses on his neck between moans. He raised one hand and laid it on the back of my head, holding me completely against him, every inch of my body pressed against every inch of his.

"I love you, Fionna…" he whispered back, his pace picking up. The ecstasy was building with each tender, loving thrust, so I clung to him, whimpering and sighing my moans into his neck. I tried to keep up with his rhythm, but I was slowly being overwhelmed by the building pressure between my legs, until finally, even his pace was faltering. I sat straight up in his lap, rocking my hips as hard and as fast as I could, feeling him slam into me from underneath. The warmth flooded me like a river flooding out from a damn, warm, all-encompassing, making me writhe and buck against him, biting my lip so only he could hear me.

With the bucking and writhing, he couldn't hold back either. Almost like he was planning to release with me, he pounded into me a few more times before I felt him spill himself inside of me, collapsing in the chair as I collapsed on top of him.

He wrapped his arms around me again, our chests rising and falling together, as he laid small, loving kisses on my forehead and face. I forced my hands under his back, holding him, too.

"Thank you," I said quietly to his ear, kissing his neck. "Thank you… for everything…"

"You're the mother of my children, the queen of my kingdom, and the hero of my world. _I _should be thanking _you_," he chuckled, hugging me close to him.

I smiled against his neck and let out a heavy, contented sigh. We may have been missing a piece of us, but we still had each other. That was something he remembered. It was something he helped me to remember. It was something I refused to ever forget.

Just like Marshall.


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets

**Gumball**

I look at her sometimes and wonder if she'll ever recover from this. But then I think, who am I kidding? I can't even look at myself without wondering the same thing. I've watched her go to her death hundreds of times, but I always, _always_ knew she would come back. But this time, though…

This time, I'm not sure if either of them will come back.

Fionna's lightened up a little in the year and a half since Marshall's been gone. I think, to her, it's more like he abandoned her rather than the fact that he made a sacrificing decision. She's only ever known abandonment since she was a child. I couldn't imagine that she would see this any differently. Still, she gets up every morning with the children, sends them off to their studies, and conducts her queenly business as is expected of her, and I suppose that's more than anyone could ask from someone in her position. She almost greedily takes on new missions from the citizens of Aaa, taking her anger out on whatever poor soul dared to tamper with the people she protects. It's like a punching bag for her, like therapy. It provides the physical expression that talking with me does not.

Well, I guess it's good that she talks to me about it.

Felix just had his 16th birthday, and what a man he's become. I've begun to train him in the political duties of being a king, to teach him what it means to have responsibility. I was younger than him when I was forced into the throne, and I wouldn't want him to struggle the way I had to because I made the same mistakes my parents did. I taught him how a king should carry himself while he's faced with difficulties, how to address problems in the kingdom with more than two opposing sides, how to determine which issues should get more attention, so on and so forth. I think, though, what I regret most is not having Marshall here to help me. With Marshall, I could have taught Felix so much more. Marshall was there for me when I was my son's age, and Marshall taught me how to balance work and friends when I grew up. There were many times where I wanted to tell Felix about my childhood, about how Marshall's presence influenced the kind of king I am, but… it was just too hard.

Still, that didn't stop him from asking the questions I hurt too much to answer.

"Father, may I ask you something?" he asked me one evening as we were going over the history of our family in the library. His face was so young, so innocent, but so concerned and intelligent. He had my hair, my attitude, but he reminded me so much of his mother. His fierce bravery and brightly lit eyes could only have come from her.

"What is it, Felix?" I replied, closing one book and opening another. We were on the period where Queen Gumilda wiped out an entire army of goblins with just her smile. Or, that's what the legend says.

"Well, I suppose it isn't much of a question, but rather a statement. About… about Marshall…" His demeanor became tense, and I saw a light blush spread across his pale cheeks. He knew I was uncomfortable about this.

I took a deep breath and closed the book, crossing my arms on the table in front of us and hanging my head. "I… guess you're old enough to know, or at least figure it out."

"I did… figure it out, I mean. Marshall, he's… he's not coming back, is he?" Felix asked. I could feel his pink eyes looking me over, waiting patiently for my answer.

"No. No, he's not."

"What… happened that night, Dad? Why did he leave? I mean, why did he _really_ leave?"

I raised my head to look at him, to observe his features, so full of promise and hope and seriousness. "In your studies, I'm sure you've come across notes on the Nightosphere…"

"Yes, the demon realm. I've read about it," he answered, sounding scholarly and mature.

"Well, Marshall's mother—your grandmother—was the queen of the Nightosphere—"

"Hannah Abadeer, Queen of the Nightosphere, her reign beginning before even the Mushroom Wars," Felix answered again, almost bragging.

I looked him up and down, wondering why he was asking me this question if he already knew the answer. "Yes, well, she's had a personal goal for quite some time to trap Marshall into taking her place. Several times she tried, and several times your mother stopped her. But this time, she… she used…"

"My sisters…" he trailed off, his face full of shock and distress. I nodded, though I doubt he saw me. His mouth hung open and his eyes shifted back and forth as the thoughts rapidly appeared in his head. "Because they're a part of her line… they could take the curse…"

"The curse?" I asked incredulously, sitting up and giving him a questioning gaze. "What curse? I've never heard of a curse."

He racked his brain for information, spilling it out of his lips without thinking. "The amulet… the amulet has a curse on it… a curse that had to be connected only to people of her line… it binds them to the underworld so long as they willingly accept it…"

I grabbed Felix by his shoulders and turned him to me, forcing him to look at me. "What else do you know about this, Felix? What else do you know about this curse?"

"I—I'm sorry, Father, but that's all I know. There was only a really, really brief section in my studies on the Nightosphere that said anything about the amulet. It was really new, compared to the lineage of the Abadeers, and it became the reason the Abadeers began passing down the throne in the first place. They're immortals, and famous for their addiction to power, so the amulet had to be the reason they would ever let someone take that power from them."

I searched his face, hoping he had more information, but I quickly realized that that really was the extent of his knowledge. I took my hands from him and ruffled his hair. "Thank you, Felix, for telling me what you _did_ know."

"Do you think that, maybe with that information, you and Mom can save Daddy Marshall?" he asked, turning into the little boy who loved his fathers.

My heart fluttered at the name Daddy Marshall. When he was around, the title made my heart sing every time the kids said it. Now… now it was just painful nostalgia. "No, I—I don't think so, Felix. Daddy Marshall… asked us—your mother and I—not to come after him. He did it to protect us, but it's a request I won't go back on. He chose to go with Hannah, and I won't interfere with that."

I dropped my gaze to the table, laying my hands in my lap, trying to let the memories of that night fade without letting them hurt too much. His face, his eyes, the tears… and the way he said it…

Felix lunged at me, his arms wide open, clinging to me like he used to when Ember used to play silly tricks on him that would scare him. I could feel him weeping into my coat, so I pulled his tall, slim body from his chair and into my lap, holding him like I used to when he was a boy. "I miss Daddy Marshall so much sometimes, Dad… I miss his music! And… and I miss practicing combat with him! And I miss racing with Ember and Lilly, and his funny stories, and the way he would get back at Ember when she scared me… I want him home, Dad! I want him to come home!"

I rocked him gently back and forth, holding his head with one hand and rubbing his back with another. "Ssshhh, Felix, I know. I miss him too…"

"Why him? Why did Daddy Marshall have to go?" His low, teenage voice cracked as he sobbed, his strong hands grasping at my jacket like he meant to tear it off. Sometimes I forgot he had his mother's strength.

"He did it to protect us, Felix. I know it hurts, but we have to remember _why_ he did it, _why_ he left." I pulled Felix up so I could look at him, his face red and tear-stained, the same sad look Fionna had when she was upset. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Felix?"

He poked out his lip a little and nodded, wiping his eyes. "Yes."

I wiped his tears, too, smiling up at my grown up prince. "Good. You and I, we need to be _strong_, Felix. We need to be strong for your mother and sisters. We need to be strong for the Candy People, for the kingdom, and for Aaa. Daddy Marshall would never want to see us cry, right?"

He let out a sharp, quick chuckle and shook his head, standing up from my lap rubbing his face with his sleeve. It was amazing to me how quickly he could go from high prince to the snot-faced boy he used to be. "You're right, Dad. If Daddy Marshall could see me now—"

"If he saw you now he'd probably crack some stupid joke to make you laugh," I answered, standing up and hugging him. "It'll be alright, Felix. This is how it had to be. Wishing it happened differently will never change that. We, especially as leaders, have to look towards tomorrow. We have a duty to our people to bring peace and happiness to them."

He hugged me back, regaining his composure before stepping away and bowing to me. "As always my father the king is completely right…" Felix stood up, a light smile playing on his lips. "But as for me, the tomorrow I look forward to is getting all the information I can about the Nightosphere. Marshall was a Candy Kingdom citizen, too, after all."

"I… can't say that's a bad idea, but…"

His smile faltered as he looked me up and down with a questioning gaze. "But what, Father? I thought you would _want_ to know more about the Nightosphere."

"I do, Felix, I do, but… I just want to protect your mom and sisters. Your mother… she's taking this really, really hard, even now. And your sisters, well… I'd like to keep them in the dark until they're older. They don't need to know right now."

"But… can I tell you? I mean, maybe we can… I don't know… break the curse or something. There's got to be a way, Dad. I know you think so, too." There it was. That courage, that unforgiving determination he got from Fionna. He was her son through and through. I smiled and shook my head, thinking about how much he mirrored her. "What? What's so funny, Dad?" he asked, sounding a little offended.

"Nothing, nothing, it's just… you're _just_ like your mother. I feel sorry for the poor soul who crosses you," I said, looking up to smile at my son in the face.

He smiled too, one that mirrored mine, and said, "I know, I know. Aunt Cake tells me I'm as stubborn as Mom all the time."

"But, about your question… yes. Tell me everything you manage to find, but let's keep it a secret. At least for now. If you find anything, anything at all, bring it to me. I refuse to go against Marshall's wishes, but… if we _could_ find a way around it, then…"

"Then we could bring Daddy Marshall home, and you and Mom won't be so sad anymore," Felix finished for me, his childish glow once again breaking through his princely demeanor.

His kindness struck me in the heart, making it throb with pride and love. I chuckled and took a step towards him, ruffling his hair again. "Come on Felix, how could Mom and I be sad when we have such a cute face like yours to look at all the time?" I let my voice twist into that low-toned baby sound that parents make when they coo over their children.

"Daaaaddd come on! Stop! I'm not cute, I'm the royal heir, and I am to be respected as such!" he whined, pushing my hand away and crossing his arms. That proved it. He actually _was_ a teenager.

I chuckled again, putting my hands on my hips and smiling at him. "Alright, fine. But do we have a deal, Felix?"

"Yes, Dad, we have a deal. Just… don't call me cute, okay? Especially not in front of Sofia." His face went red with the sound of her name, and I had to smile to myself. Felix was in love with Sofia since they were both 10 years old. It was good to see that hadn't changed.

"Alright, I'll just show her your baby pictures and talk about how you used to chew holes through your sandwiches to avoid the crusts instead," I teased.

His face went even brighter, but he laughed it off and picked up the books on the table. "If you must. But please, leave the naked pictures behind," he moaned, walking away. He looked over his shoulder as he headed out, calling to me, "Love you, Dad. I'll let you know what I find."

"I love you too, Felix," I called, watching my boy as he left the library.

He was such a strong man now, so sure of himself, of his strength, of his abilities. He would make a great king, but right now, I was just happy I could call him my son.

And Marshall… he would have been just as proud.

**Author's Note:** **Hey guys! Just a little note here for you. Since school started, and my job revolves around the school system (not to mention my college courses), I probably won't be posting every day like I used to. Don't worry, though! I will finish this story even if it kills me!**

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for reading :D


	4. Chapter 4: Investigation

**Ember**

"I'll find you, you little rat!" I screamed as I tore through my bedroom, angrily looking for my diary. She did this on purpose, and I knew it. She just likes to mess with my head, get me mad. So what if we were equal in combat skill? I was going to kick her ass to high heaven for this.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your only sister, Em," her stupid voice echoed from down the hall. I darted out of my room, my long hair flying wildly around me as I searched and listened for her to mess up, to show herself.

"Give it back, Lil! Give it back before I tear your stupid looking throat out!" I hollered, flying faster, listening harder, looking deeper into rooms.

"We have the same throat, Em. Your throat is just as stupid looking as mine," her voice echoed again, this time from behind me.

I growled into the air, coming to a dead stop, remembering what Mom always said.

_"You need to _listen_ to your surroundings. Stop for a moment and get a feel for what is happening, and what's _going_ to happen. Raw strength alone won't win every battle, Ember."_

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, listening carefully to the sounds around me. I heard Peppermint Maid making the beds in the west wing, and Daddy Gumball whisking some batter in a bowl down in the kitchen. I heard Mom throwing daggers into a dummy outside, and Uncle Lord was tapping his hoof on the ground to answer Aunt Cake's question. But there, there in the study three doors down, I could hear her steady, waning breathing. She was reading.

Wait, she was reading? Glob darn it! That's my freaking journal!

I burst through the study doors to find her sitting at Daddy Gumball's desk, her feet up and her body leaning back all relaxed-looking in his leather chair. And my journal, wide open in her hands and being held in front of her face.

"Gggrrrraaahh I'm going to kill you, Lil!" I yelled, lunging for her. Like lightening she dipped out of the chair and dodged my attack, my journal still in the same place it had been.

"Calm down you angry little freak. I wanted to talk to you about something," she said calmly, flipping a page like it was just some other book.

"Screw that! You took my journal! And you're _reading_ it! The only talking that's going down is my fist talking to your ugly stupid face!" I growled, setting myself up for attack again.

Once more, I lunged at her, claws and teeth bared, ready to rip her face off. She dropped the journal, and with amazing quickness she hooked one of my arms in her own and swung around me, ending up almost sitting on my back, wrapping her leg around my throat and putting us both in a really awkward and uncomfortable position.

"Get off of me you nasty little sweat monkey!" I raged, swinging us back and forth, trying to shake her off.

"I will if you'll listen to me, Em. You wrote in your journal about not seeing Daddy Marshall in two years, right? And how you're suspicious about him leaving…" She unhooked her leg from my throat and let it hang over my shoulder so she could tilt my head back with her hand. Her crystal blue eyes gazed down into mine, the hair that fell out of her ponytail tickling my face.

"Yeah, so? What of it?"

"I'm suspicious, too," she said, letting me go and floating off of me, landing in front of me to pick my journal up and hand it back.

I grabbed it from her hands, showing her I was still mad, and held it to my chest. The sound of Daddy Marshall's name calmed me down. A lot. It almost made me feel low. "He's just been gone for so long, you know? If he really had to go to another kingdom, then why hasn't he visited yet? Or sent a letter? Or _something_? Sometimes… sometimes I think he's never coming back…"

"That's what I've thought, too, Em," Lilly said, beginning to pace back and forth the way she did when she was deep in thought and didn't have a book in her face. "Isn't it odd that he missed all our birthdays? That he hasn't tried to talk to us at all? I remember the night he left very well. I remember that he and Mom and Daddy Gumball were getting along great, no fighting or anything, but then suddenly, he vanished. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

I went quiet for a minute, wondering if I should ask her. The night Daddy Marshall left, there was a big chunk of time missing from my memory, some bits a little fuzzy, but everything else was just… gone. I didn't want to seem crazy, so I never asked. I took a deep breath and said, "Hey Lil… that night… did—do you remember _everything_? Because I… I can't…"

She stopped her pacing and dropped her head a little, that long chunk of hair hiding half of her face. "After we played Truth or Dare with Gabe and Elly, I can't remember a thing. Gabe dared us to go get some red leaves from the Red Forest without our parents finding out, but then… nothing…"

"So you forgot too, huh? I wonder… what happened after that? Do you think it had something to do with Daddy Marshall leaving?" I asked, feeling sadder and more suspicious by the second.

"I think so, Em. It's like all the adults know, but no one will tell us. And Felix… he's been acting stranger than usual, hasn't he? Always studying, never wanting to play or practice with us. I think he's up to something," she said, floating herself up onto the desk and crossing her legs.

"What are you talking about? That nerd is _always_ studying something. Between you and him I _never_ have any fun," I whined, floating into the air and crossing my arms and legs as if I was sitting on the ground. I could feel my hair still touching the floor, so I floated a little higher.

"You complain too much. But I'm serious! Hasn't he been really quiet lately? I mean quieter than usual. And Daddy Gumball hasn't been bringing him along to do princely things quite as much. I find that to be… suspicious…" She stroked her chin with her thumb and forefinger, her brows furrowing as she studied the ground. Or thought really hard. Sometimes I couldn't tell which.

"You're not going to try and be a detective again, like in your books, are you Lil? Remember last time? You tried to follow Peppermint Maid to find out why she was so secretive, and all it got you was nightmares for months. You're really bad at this. Stick to reading about it," I said, blowing the hair out of my face and swatting at it now and then.

"Shut up, Em. At least I _can_ read," she retorted, not looking at me.

"What the hay is that supposed to mean?! I read! I just don't want to!"

"At any rate, I think we should keep a lookout for anything strange. If they know something about Daddy Marshall, then we should know, too. We're 13 for globs sake! We're old enough, right?"

I didn't think she was really asking me the question, but I answered her anyway. "Yeah! We're not kids anymore. We can help, too," I agreed, feeling a little excited.

"Okay, then first, we hunt down Felix and try to see what he's all worked up about," she said, hopping down from the desk and pushing her hair behind her ear. Sometimes, when she did little things like that, it was like looking at myself in the mirror. I knew she was my twin and we were totally identical to everyone else, but she was so _different_ from me. It made it easy to distinguish that I was me and she was her. Except when she pulled her nose out of a book and showed real emotion, like right now. That's when it got hard to tell who was who, even to me.

"Alright, let's go!" I said, turning to head out the door.

"Wait, how's your invisibility training going?" she asked, stopping me right before I reached the door.

I hesitated there, my heart sinking a little. Daddy Marshall was teaching us how to use our demon powers before he left, and invisibility was the last thing he introduced. We never learned how to fully stay invisible, and without him, no one around here could teach us how. "I can go fully invisible for about 30 seconds, but that's it," I said shortly. Just the thought of it made me feel sad.

"Hm, well, I can go for 50 seconds, but after 20 seconds, pieces of me become visible, so we have to work together." She sounded like a general, or a leader of assassins. When she became determined like this, it was hard to take my place as leader, so I just let it be.

"Fine, but let's go before someone hears us or catches on," I said, tucking my journal into the inside of my jacket.

Together we floated out of the doors, trying to look casual so, if by some chance someone _did_ see us, they wouldn't think we were about to spy on our brother. We found him neck deep in old books and scrolls, studying hard in the library. From a distance I could read a few words, but I wasn't good enough to read books that weren't upright or facing me.

"Alright, here's the plan, Em. You go first, getting as close as you can as quietly as you can. Don't. Touch. Anything. Don't make a sound. Just go in there and see what he's reading. And when you can't hold your invisibility anymore, scare him. Pretend you were playing a trick. He'll get mad at you and chase you out, then I'll sneak in and see what else I can find. With him distracted, he won't notice parts of me appearing," Lilly whispered from next to me.

I nodded to her and took a step back, taking a deep breath in and concentrating my abilities to just being invisible. Daddy Marshall said that the way he does it is that he makes himself believe that he's not even there, that his whole body just disappeared. I wasn't sure what he meant, but I thought really hard about no one being able to see me, not even myself. When I looked down at my hands and they were gone, I knew I was ready.

Quietly, carefully I floated in through the cracked door, trying not to touch it so it didn't move. Felix was sitting there, 5 books stacked up on one side and 7 stacked on the other, two books open in front of him and at least a dozen scrolls laid out. He had those stupid looking nerd glasses on, the ones Daddy Gumball gave him so his eyes wouldn't hurt when he read. I crept up to him, being careful that my hair didn't fall and brush his shoulder or something, and peeked at what he was reading.

One book was written in some language that we were never taught growing up. I'd never seen it before, and the letters looked weird. The other book he had open had the same letters, but some words I recognized. Was... was he translating the book?

As I tried to examine the books, my concentration wavered, and I could feel myself becoming visible again. In a last-ditch effort, I let the invisibility go and put my face up really close to his. "Hey bro, whatchya doing?"

He jumped clear out of his seat, yelping and shuffling his books around so I wouldn't see them. "Gosh glob it, Ember! What the hay? Why are you sneaking around in here? Don't books burn your flesh or something?" he said, his face flushed. I could hear his heart racing wildly in his chest. Lilly was right, he was hiding something.

I pushed him over and scoffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "Books are stupid, like you. That's why I avoid them, dummy," I spat, my hair falling into my face again.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, like Daddy Gumball does. "Then _why_ on earth are you not avoiding me, if I'm stupid like books?"

I could smell Lilly's light scent as she snuck up to us. I had to think quickly. How was I going to distract Felix?

"Come on, I want to show you something!" I yelled out, not really thinking. Before he could answer I scooped him up into my arms, flying all the way up, past the four floors of books, to the very top of the glass dome of the library.

"Holy hell, Ember! What the lump are you doing?! Put me down!" he demanded, clinging to me like a lost child.

I chuckled and loosened my grip a little, making him grasp me tighter as he stared down at the floor. "Well I _wanted_ to show you how pretty the library is from up here. But, I guess if you want me to let you down…" I let him slip a little, pretending like I was going to drop him.

He crushed his head into my chest, hiding from the scary heights. "NO! No! Okay, just… just set me down on the top floor. I'll climb down the rest of the way."

I sighed dramatically, acting like I was thinking about it. "Nah, I don't think so. You didn't even want to see the thing I wanted to show you yet," I whined, toying with him. I could feel his tall, lanky body stiff in my arms. I knew he didn't like heights, but I needed just a few more seconds.

"Fine, show me. Show me whatever you want. Just put me down!" he yelled, venturing to look up at me.

I smiled and flew a little higher, looking up at the dome. "You see there? That's a robindove nest, I think," I said, saying random things about objects that didn't even exist.

He looked frantically for it, and when he couldn't find it, he just nodded and said, "Yes, yes that's very nice. Thank you, Ember. Now please put me down."

I listened carefully for Lilly, trying to gauge where she was. There was a sound of someone slipping out from the library doors, so I assumed that was her and floated Felix and I back down. She left everything looking untouched, but I could smell her scent all over the books and scrolls. I set Felix down and giggled at him smoothing out his outfit, looking frustrated and frazzled.

"Now, if you're done, Ember, I'm busy," he said impatiently, pulling the chair out to sit back down.

"Fiiiine," I moaned, throwing my head back in boredom and walking out. "You're never any fun anyway."

And with that, I left.

Lilly and I met up in the study again, and when I entered, the first thing I noticed was the stone look on her face.

"Lil, what's wrong?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable with her composure.

"He was reading up on the Nightosphere, Em. Why would he do that?" she pondered, thinking really, really hard.

"How the lump should I know?" I challenged, kicking my legs into the air and crossing my arms behind my head like I was lounging on a couch.

"You know, you should really start caring, Ember. What if he's trying to find Daddy Marshall?"

Her words struck me hard, harder than I thought words could. What _if_ he was trying to find Daddy Marshall? What would the Nightosphere have to do with that?

Neither of us said anything for a while. We just sat deep in thought, letting the idea of finding our father set in. For the longest time we were told that he had to leave, but what if… what if he was forced to? What if they were just lying to us?

"Hey, Lil…" I started, sitting up in the air.

"Yeah, Em?"

"Let's find Daddy Marshall, too."


	5. Chapter 5: Discovery

**Felix**

No. No. No, not that one. Not that one, either. It was becoming more and more difficult to find archived information about the amulet the Abadeers wore. I went through every book of history I could find, including human and demon history, every book on magical items and lists of known curses, and even went through the records of the citizens of Aaa in the Council Records Room.

Nothing.

Everyone I asked said that either they never met Hannah, or that when they did see her, all they noticed was that she was always wearing the amulet. No one knew anything about it. Not Peppermint Maid, not any of the other sovereigns of Aaa, not even the old guru in the middle of the forest.

I asked Seeress about it one day, but she didn't have any information for me, either.

"The prince has come to ask a question I cannot answer," she said in her mysterious way. She looked about as old as my sisters, but she had so much wisdom in her face that I couldn't help but respect her as an elder.

"So you can't tell me about the amulet either, can you?" I asked, slumping down into the arm chair in the flower viewing room where I found her. The sweet smell of the flowers that surrounded us was intoxicating, and sometimes made it hard to think, but it did well to keep my mind from plunging into darkness and frustration.

"The realm you wish to search is a realm of shadows, a world meant to block out sight so that it can stay hidden, along with its secrets. Not even my sight can reach it." Her bandaged face was facing my direction, the set of her lips making her seem as frustrated as I was.

"I figured. This amulet is so elusive! I can't find anything on it, and I've devoted the last year of my life to finding this! At this rate I'll miss my own inauguration because I'll be neck-deep in research," I moaned, rubbing my tired eyes.

Seeress smiled at me, looking whimsical in her bright summer dress with her long, floor-length hair up in a ponytail. "I do not see you missing your inauguration, young prince. What I do see is a visitor for you very soon. I believe it's time you leave to prepare. Your guest can be impatient."

I looked her over curiously, but just shrugged and gave up. Mom said she was _always_ like this, so I never pushed the subject. I stood up, bowed to her and thanked her as a prince should to a young lady, and left.

I saw Peppermint Maid coming down the hall as I was heading to my bedroom and asked her to please bring me my meal in my room. As was her usual, she just eyed me suspiciously, curtseyed, and walked in the other direction. Sometimes I thought she had a personal vendetta against me for some odd reason, but then I remembered that she's Peppermint Maid. The only thing that scares her, even to this day, is Seeress. Again I shrugged and headed to my room.

The room was dark and a bit chilly, the way I liked it to be. Clean. Neat. Put together. Everything had a place, every item had a home, every blanket had crisp folded edges and every garment had a hanger or drawer. My room was the epitome of perfect. I unbuttoned my jacket and hung it neatly in the "To Be Washed" section of the closet, along with my shirt, and slipped my pants off so I could pull on the pajamas I liked to wear while I studied. They were comfortable and airy, and never distracted me with discomfort.

Suddenly, without my prompting, the dim light next to my bed turned on and cast the room in a soft glow.

"You have such a beautiful body, Lixy. I wish you'd show it more," her sweet voice rang out into the room, drawing my attention to the bed.

Her soft blonde hair hung loosely onto my pillow, her bright blue eyes looking happily up at me and her creamy skin calling me to come to her, to touch her. She was such a beautiful sight, matching so perfectly to the colors of my room that I almost wanted to just stand there and admire her for what she was: a marvel. My marvel.

"When did you get here, Sophie?" I asked as I regained my composure and walked over to the bed.

She adjusted herself, sliding back a bit so I could slip onto the bed next to her. "I've been here for the last 15 minutes or so, going through your stuff," she said nonchalantly, like she just showed up whenever she wanted and it was a normal thing.

I laid myself on my back and beckoned her to lay her head on my chest so I could hold her and stroke her hair. Most people would think that it was odd that I was in love with someone who looked so much like me and my family. It was like we were cousins, or long-lost siblings. If I really studied her hard, she looked like Mom, but to me, she was Sophia, and that's what really mattered.

"Sophie, didn't your mom say that if she caught you sneaking out again that she'd revoke your title?"

"Yeah, but so what? Koda's going to be king in, like, a year or something after he marries that girl from the Fire Kingdom. Daddy's ex's daughter. It's a big scandal in Ooo, but they love each other, and she seems like a nice girl." Sophia had a habit of rambling to me when we hadn't seen each other in a while, like she couldn't keep all her news to herself. She was sort of a gossip, but I thought it was cute. She may have been three years older than me, but she kept her youngest sibling demeanor pretty well throughout the years. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you about something really important. It's about your research into the Nightosphere," she said, propping herself up on her arm to gaze down at me.

For a moment I was entranced by the sheer beauty of her eyes, of her lips, of her presence and the way she made me feel. I reached my hand up and cupped her face, moving the blonde bangs from her eyes so I could see all of the blue. She smiled and closed her eyes, taking my hand in hers and kissing my palm. "Felix, we can't. Not until we're married, remember?"

I chuckled and laid my hand back down on my chest. "Come on, you don't even know that that's what I was thinking," I said playfully, trying to get my mind to go somewhere _besides_ what was inside her shirt. I'll admit, I like to _think_ I'm a pillar of virtue, but when Sophie's around, my mind just goes… elsewhere.

"Because I saw that look, and I know what it means. You can't fool me, Prince Felix. I've known you your whole life. I know what you're thinking," she said, smiling and taping my nose with her slender finger. She sat up on the bed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as she talked. "So, I know this is supposed to be a secret and I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but… I… kind of, sort of, maybe asked Mom Marceline about it. But in a sneaky way! I promise!"

I sat up with her, searching her face for anything she might not be telling me. "And…? What happened?"

"Well, at first she made a joke about how red my face was. I guess I was blushing or something. But then she said that the Nightosphere needed to be ruled by an Abadeer because of that amulet you always talked about. So I asked her why the amulet was so important, and she got real serious and down and said it was a long story. So I said I like stories, and she laughed at me and we went down to the basement where all her music stuff is, and she picked up her bass and started singing this song about a curse that this witch put on a demon a long long time ago because of some love feud or something. Mom Marcy's songs get weird sometimes."

"What happened next in the song, Sophie? About the woman and the demon?" I asked, beyond curious and so filled with anticipation that I was ready to shake the answers out.

"The song said that over 13 thousand years ago, a demon fell madly in love with a woman. A human woman. He would visit her every night and leave every morning to go back to the underworld where he ruled. He only visited at night because the woman asked him to give her her privacy during the day. It was her only wish. But one day, the demon grew too curious for his own good, and he surprised her while the sun was out. When he did, he found that she was no ordinary woman, but an evil witch with particular powers. Mom Marcy called her a Kingdom Succubus. She was the kind of evil that would seduce a king so she could devour his kingdom without him knowing. The demon was outraged, and demanded that she give up her powers and become his slave in the underworld for all time. The woman, though, really _did_ love the demon, and was even more outraged that he disobeyed her one request. So, to get back at him for his treachery, she agreed to his terms, and transferred all of her power into an amulet. She gave the amulet to him, pretending it was a gift of peace, or an offering sort of, and the demon took it eagerly. He loved beautiful things, and the amulet was indeed beautiful. The moment he slipped it over his head, he knew he had damned himself. The woman cursed the amulet to be a constant, permanent drain on the ruling demon's immortality. The longer he wore it, the less time he would have to live. When he tried to pass the amulet on to someone else, if that demon wasn't of his blood, the amulet would always return back to him. He was the first of the Abadeers, and he was the one who cursed their whole line."

I sat there in awe, my mouth open and my eyes blank as my mind raced a million miles a minute. "So… it _was_ a curse… and… and it sucks out a demon's immortality?"

"Yeah, that's what Mom Marcy said. She said that's why she hasn't seen or talked to her dad in so long. She doesn't want him to know about Gabe and Elly, and she doesn't want him to somehow get her to wear the amulet. She thinks that if the wearer of the amulet lets it suck out all of their immortality before the amulet finds a new host, then maybe the curse will be broken."

For a moment I was quiet, taking everything in, letting the words spin around in my mind until they clicked into place. I jumped onto Sophie, giving her a big, excited kiss on the lips, and held her face in my hands so I could look straight into her eyes. "You are amazing, Sophie! You're a work of art! This… this tells me so much! This, right here, what you just told me… this will help me find Marshall! I just… I can't even find the words to thank you properly…"

She smiled, a kind, wise curve of her lips, and touched her hand to my face. "I just wanted to help you, Lixy. I miss Marshall, too. I want to do whatever I can to help you find him."

I crushed my lips to hers again, tasting her, feeling the softness of her mouth against mine, taking in everything about this wonderful, amazing, incredible young woman. Fourteen months of research, and here she comes, telling me everything I needed to know in a matter of minutes.

I pulled away from the kiss and slid myself off the bed, pulling her with me. I bent to my knee as she stood in front of me, her hands in mine, our eyes locked tight. "Sophia of the Candy Kingdom of Ooo… will you marry me and be my queen?"

Her face lit up a thousand shades brighter as she squealed and jumped up and down. She threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me tightly and almost squeezing the breath out of me. "Of course! Yes! A million times, yes!"

I laughed as I held her close, listening to her go on and on about how we were going to tell everyone and what the wedding would be like. Then, she pulled away slightly so she could see my face and said, "But I refuse to marry you until Uncle Marshall is there to see it happen."

There was something about her tone, her demeanor, her utter sense of determination that made my eyes water a little. The love she had for me and for my family was so much more than I could ever ask for.

My entire life, she was there. Hers was the first hand I held, the first lips I kissed, the first love I felt. People say that you need to get out there, to love more than once so you know you've found your perfect mate, but I didn't need to. I'd discovered Sophia, and there was nothing else I would ever want. She was perfect.


	6. Chapter 6: Convincing

**Lilly**

"…She thinks that if the wearer of the amulet lets it suck out all of their immortality before the amulet finds a new host, then maybe the curse will be broken…" I heard Sophia say through Felix's closed doors.

So _that's _it. That's what happened to Daddy Marshall! He was forced into taking the Nightosphere with that crazy amulet! And Miss Marceline thinks that the curse can be broken if all of the immortality of one person is sucked away. What an interesting thought.

I floated down the hall to the showering room that I knew Ember was in. We've been trying for months to figure out what happened that night and where Marshall went, and a little bit of eavesdropping gave me all the answers I needed. Ember said I wasn't a good detective, but look at me now!

I snuck into the shower room, hidden by the shadows, and quickly undressed before I slipped into the shower with her. With her back turned, I whispered her name.

She jumped and yelled, "What the hay, Lil?! What are you doing in here? Get your own damn shower you pervert—"

I quickly covered her mouth to hush her up and whispered, "Stop talking so loud you angry cow! I overheard Sophia say something to Felix just now…"

She moved my hand from her face, revealing a really, really big smile. "Oh? Did they finally do it? Did they FINALLY go to tier 15?" she asked, far too excited about it.

I hung my head and pinched the bridge between my eyes, letting the water hit my long hair. "Glob, and you call _me_ a pervert. No. They didn't. Not while I was there."

"Then why even bother coming to me? In the _shower_?"

"Because we need to stay quiet about this, dummy. So shut up and listen." Ember stood there, her arms crossed around her big chest, her hair wet and falling like cascading curtains down her body as she waited for me to continue. "Sophia told Felix that Daddy Marshall is stuck in the Nightosphere because of an _amulet_. I guess Felix has been trying to find information on this amulet this whole time, and that's what all those books were about. Sophia said the amulet was cursed by a kingdom succubus thousands of years ago and is attached to the Abadeer family."

"Wait, are you serious? We've been searching for how long, and you just found all this out right now?" she asked incredulously.

"That's what I thought. But here's the kicker: Sophia also said that Miss Marceline believes that if the amulet is given the time to suck out all of one person's immortality before it's passed on, then the curse would be broken."

A memory flashed before my eyes just then. A memory of being smaller, more fragile, of being in a dark place, just beyond the lighted horizon.

"Lil? Lilly, are you okay?" Ember's voice peaked through the memory, just for a moment.

There was darkness, comforting, cold darkness. And something… glinting. A familiar smile, a soothing voice… and I wanted something… I wanted the thing that glinted…

_"You girls can have all the power you want. You just need to wear this, and accept that power for yourselves…"_

_"But we need to ask Mommy first, Granma."_

_"Yeah, Mommy doesn't like us taking stuff that isn't ours…"_

"Lil! Talk to me! What are you seeing?" Again, Ember's voice cut through the hazy memory.

I shook my head and took a step back, pressing my body against the cool tiles of the shower walls to shock myself back to reality. "I… I think I remember what happened that night."

"Well? What happened?" she demanded. She never had any tact or comforting words to say.

"Do you remember a woman? A woman with a pretty necklace, who said we could have all the power we wanted?" I asked her, searching her face for the moment the memory would return to her.

She thought hard about it, her face creasing into lines of deep introspection. "I remember… darkness… and someone being in the darkness… I liked that person… I—I thought she was cool…"

"Yes! That was Granma! Daddy Marshall's mother!"

"And then Mom and Daddy Marshall came, and… they were scared. Of her. They didn't want us near her. But why? Why didn't they want us near Granma?" she asked me, looking like a lost child who just learned a terrible truth.

"I think… I think Granma was trying to get us to take that amulet, Em. I think she was trying to get us to take the place Daddy Marshall took. With the curse."

"But that's—that's terrible, Lilly! Why would she do that? We were kids! We were her _grand_kids!" she cried. I could visibly see her confusion turn to anger. "She did this, didn't she? She's the one who tricked Daddy Marshall into leaving. This was her fault! She used us!"

"Ember, calm down—"

"No, Lilly, I won't! That bitch of a demon took our father from us and used us as bait! No wonder Mom looks at us so weird! No wonder she cries with Daddy Gumball so much at night! They were forced to choose either us or Marshall!" She slammed her fist into the shower wall, going right through the tile, the plaster, and even some of the pipes. The water in the shower instantly stopped flowing, and we were left in a steamed up room with a hole in the wall. "No one makes our mother cry without paying the price. Let's go, Lil. We have some things to get in order."

Before I could try to calm her down or even physically hold her back, she flew right through the glass in the shower door, shattering it around her, making a huge mess. I sighed and thought _so much for subtly_.

I floated out after her, being careful not to cut myself on the broken glass around the door, and pulled a robe over my bare shoulders. Ember didn't even bother to put anything on. She just stormed down the halls of the palace completely naked, not caring who saw or what they thought. When she went into blind rages like this, she had no sense of modesty, no mind for anything _except_ her goal. I guess in some ways that could be helpful, but tonight, when we had guests from the Pillow Kingdom staying, it was just a flat out bad idea. I grabbed her robe and flew after her, and when I caught up to her I threw it over her shoulders. That, coupled with her long, clinging wet hair, was enough to cover the basic parts.

She burst into Mom and Dad's room, with me flying right behind her, and steam practically rising from her body. Mom was sitting in the window sill polishing her new sword she got from the Ghost Kingdom, and Daddy Gumball was at his desk filling out what looked to be treaties.

"Why? Why didn't you tell us about that night? Why didn't you tell us what actually happened to Daddy Marshall?" she demanded. Mom sighed and put her sword down, and Daddy Gumball quietly laid down the pen on the desk and stood up. It was like they were expecting this to happen any day now.

"It was for your own good, Ember. We were afraid that—" Mom tried.

"Afraid of what, Mom? You're not afraid of anything! Nothing scares you! Especially not something like this!" Ember challenged, her movements jerky and tense, making her robe fall over so, once again, she was bare to the world.

"Ember, your mother and I didn't want to tell you because Daddy Marshall didn't want you to know. Not yet, anyway. And we, well… we didn't want you to feel guilty about it," Gumball said, walking up to Mom and wrapping his arm around her waist. I could see that this hurt her, that it took so much strength for her to accept what's happened.

"I don't feel guilty! I feel angry! I remember that bitch's face and what she did, and I want to tear her glob damn heart out for it!" Ember yelled, her voice getting squeaky when she couldn't fit all her emotion into words.

Mom and Daddy Gumball went quiet for a moment, looking at each other. Then, they turned their gazes to me. "Lilly, what do you think about this?" Mom asked, her blue eyes searching me for my honest answer.

"I—I agree with Ember. I understand why you hid it from us, but you didn't have to. And now… now I want to get Dad back. I want to kill Granma and get our other father back," I said truthfully, honestly.

"See? Even Lilly wants to go! Mom, come on, get packed up. We should leave for the Nighto—" Ember started, but was quickly interrupted.

"You are going nowhere, Ember. Especially not to the Nightosphere." Daddy Gumball's face was hard, commanding. He rarely ever gave out orders like that. He was always the sweet parent, the reasonable one. It was Mom or Marshall that put us in our place. But when Gumball's tone turned heavy and his expression was unwavering, there was no going against him.

"B—but what do you mean? Dad, we _need_ to get Daddy Marshall back!" Ember cried, losing her anger quickly in the face of Gumball's stern order.

"Absolutely not. We promised Marshall that we wouldn't go after him. It was the last thing he asked before he left with Hannah. We shouldn't go back on that." Mom's words were full of the 'no' Daddy Gumball was trying to enforce, but I could see it… way deep in there… that she was itching to go, too.

"But Mom!" Ember protested, stomping her foot and looking at both of them in disbelief.

I laid my hand on her cold shoulder, gently pulling her back. "Mom and Daddy Gumball said no, Ember. Be grateful we know the truth, now," I said, trying to hint to her that I had other plans.

I wasn't sure if she got my message or not, but she growled, screamed, and stormed off out of their room. I turned to follow her, but was stopped by a warm hand on my shoulder.

"Lilly, wait…" Mom's sad, sweet voice rang out behind me. I turned to look at her, her eyes downcast, looking like the color of a storm over the ocean, but her face hiding something behind it. "You should know… one of the last things he said… was…" It was hard for her, so I turned around and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to me so I could feel everything she felt. "He wanted us to tell you and your siblings how much he _loved_ you, Lilly. He wanted you to know that you were his world, the light in his life."

Her voice quivered and her body shook, but something… something wasn't right… it wasn't sadness she was portraying, but something else…

"Thank you, Mom," I whispered, kissing her cheek and pulling away from her. "I love you."

We smiled at each other as well as at Daddy Gumball, and I turned around to head after Ember before it was too late.

It wasn't hard to find my twin. Even if I wasn't part demon vampire, I could find her through the angry destruction she caused as she passed. Her trail led into our room, up to her dresser, and then back out to the arena. I found her in there with Daddy Marshall's axe, the one strung up as a bass guitar but that could still be used in combat.

"What do you want?" she sneered as she swung it into an ironbark tree. Obviously she didn't get my message.

I walked over and picked up my daggers, the ones I used in combat, and began stretching myself out. "You give up too easily, Em. And you don't see everything there is to see," I said, just as I struck the dummy in front of me twice with my daggers.

"What the lump are you talking about?! Just because I haven't cut the damn tree down doesn't mean I gave up, books for brains!" she screamed as she heaved it into the tree again.

"I'm not talking about the tree. I'm talking about what just happened. With Mom." She tore the axe out of the tree and set it down next to her, leaning on it as she watched me pierce the button eye-balls of the dummy I was practicing on.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her attention clearly set on me.

I sliced the head of the dummy clear off, then sheathed the daggers on the holsters on my thighs. Before I headed over here, I took Ember's lead and put on a t-shirt and some shorts. "I _mean_ that Mom's 'no' may _seem_ solid, but it's not. She wants to go as badly as we do, Em."

I could see her face lighting up at the prospect. "So you're saying… if we just get Mom alone…"

"We can convince her to go," I finished for her, a sly smile crawling across my face. We knew manipulation was bad. We knew that breaking promises was bad. We definitely knew toying with peoples' emotions and travelling to the underworld was really bad. But messing with our family? That's worse.

"You're evil, Lil," Ember snickered, the same sly smile on her face. We looked like mirror images of each other. Two sides of the same, devious coin.

"You haven't seen anything yet, Em," I purred, taking my dagger and throwing it straight into the heart of the dummy behind me.


	7. Chapter 7: Vow

**Marshall**

Today would have been my daughters' 14th birthday. In my mind, I threw them a really big party, and a concert just for them where all the bands they love were playing. Then, as a special surprise, I'd play a song for them at the end, as part of a birthday present. I could see their faces; Lilly, her blue eyes—like her mothers'—taking in every little thing she came across, with all that messy hair piled into a bun or something, and her careful, calculated demeanor. Then Ember would be there, getting into everything, her bright red eyes ablaze with excitement and fun, her hair flowing wildly around her. I could hear Cake's voice, scolding Ember for not taking better care of her looks.

Of course Felix would be there, probably with Sofia, even though Marcy told me not to let her sneak over anymore. He would be quietly enjoying the party, casually shrugging off Sophia's efforts to dance with her. And Fionna and Gumball… I would watch them from back stage, dancing together, flying around the dance floor like they were in their own little world. Fionna's face would be alit with joy, her expression filled with love and laughter. And Gummy, he would love every moment of the celebrations. I could see him taking turns dancing with his daughters, our daughters, and reveling in what beautiful young ladies they've become.

In my head, Gumball and Fionna look just as old as they were on the day of our one year anniversary. His face would be smooth and bright pink, such a tasty color. And Fionna's eyes would look so innocent and free, like she's never had to face any sort of real danger or sorrow in the world. And the girls, well… they always looked exactly alike. My skin and hair, but Fionna's shaped eyes and beautiful, soft lips. And Felix would look like Prince Charming, bearing Gumball's eyes and Fionna's bright smile.

In this fantasy, I'd have to fight off punks left and right to keep them away from my girls. When I told Fionna they weren't dating until they were 20, I meant it. But… well, Gabe is a good kid. I guess if Ember really wanted to date him, I could consider it…

My fictional world was interrupted by a sharp pain in my chest. I reared my giant head downwards and gazed sadly at the amulet that felt like it had melted into my skin. With one tentacle I reached to touch it, to move it, just to make sure the damn thing hadn't sunken in. I guess there was a reason Mom never told me what it really was. If she had, I would have found a way to escape it a long time ago.

As if the curse wasn't enough, the amulet forced me into this hideous, disgusting beast of a form. Not even I could stomach to look at myself. Mother said it was the form of my evil self, but fully realized. I knew I was evil down inside, but… I thought it was gone after I mixed my life with theirs…

"L—Lord Marshall…" a small, scrawny demon quivered, shaking in front of me like I would eat him alive or something.

I sighed deeply and tilted my head against the side of the throne, becoming aware once again that I left all that was good and pure behind. For this. "What is it, tiny one?" my voice boomed in a loud growl.

"I—I have a… request." His squirming was making me sick to look at. He was a demon! No demon should cower.

"Speak," I growled plainly, becoming frustratingly uninterested in his plea.

"I—I wish for the p-p-power to f-f-fly," he stuttered, closing his eyes tightly and tensing himself into a ball, awaiting some terrible fate.

Again I sighed deeply and waved a tentacle, granting him his wish. I gave him huge, scaly, fleshy wings to fly around the Nightosphere with. He squealed and screamed in joy, jumping into the air and trying to use them. He was able to glide through the air, all the way over to the wall by the lava… where… he… fell in. What a moron. I gave him wings, not muscle.

_"Marshall, I'd like to speak with you. Put a hold on the line in the request chamber and meet me in my office." _The cold, heart-clutching voice of my mother weaseled itself into my brain, irritating me and making me clench the arm rests of the throne.

I stood up, lumbering over the massive crowd that flooded the room, and summoned a swarm of shadows to push them all out and close the doors. With screams and protests, they all finally disappeared. I condensed the "evil form" back into the amulet and floated upwards into Mom's office. "Office" being the desk she sat at with an old-world computer on it and a chair on the other side for guests to sit at.

"Sit down, Marshall. We need to talk," she said, her eyes never moving from the glowing screen. I floated over to the chair and slumped down into it, propping up my feet on her desk and blowing the hair out of my face. She eyed me wearily from behind her desk, saying, "Must you act so much like a childish brat, Marshall? You're almost 1,050 years old."

"I'm the king of the fucking Underworld, Mom. I'll sit how I please," I retorted, swirling my hair between my fingers just to agitate her.

She sighed and swiveled herself from the computer screen, laying her arms flat on the desk and searching me with her stone-hard eyes. "Marshall, you're being far too lenient with these demon underlings. They need to be tormented, set ablaze, tortured, killed. Anything to keep the rest of them in check. If you keep granting their wishes, they'll begin to think they're _worth_ something, and will soon try to overthrow you."

"Good, let them," I mumbled under my breath, crossing my arms.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Mom." I sat up and laid my hands on my knees, trying to look like I was being serious. "Look, Mom, if they want to overthrow me, let them. I don't care! I have nothing to live for down here, anyway. A rebellion would be a welcomed break."

She stood up, her back straight, her hands clasped behind her, her chin high and her bun super tight. She turned on her heel and walked around the desk, stopping just next to me and pretending to rest against it like she was being _casual_. "Now, Marshall… sweetie…" The pet name felt forced, unwanted.

"Oh, what's this? Is Hannah Abadeer _trying_ to act like a _mother_? How sweet! Wait, wait, wait, hold that pose. Let me get a camera for the occasion," I said sarcastically, falling back into my chair and crossing my arms again. "Don't make me laugh. You never wanted a son. You never wanted to be a parent, like I did."

A quick, burning slap seared across my face. For a split second I thought about Fionna in the early days, when I would get too touchy and she'd hit me. But this… this wasn't the same. It didn't even deserve attention. I kept my gaze towards the wall, away from her, where he slap led me.

"Of course I never wanted a child! Needy, dirty, vile creatures! I bore you for this purpose, and this purpose only. You were a failure when you came out more _human_ than demon." I heard her begin to pace in front of me, not even caring if I was paying attention. In truth, I was listening very carefully. This was the explanation I'd been waiting for for centuries. "But your _father_… what a despicable excuse for a man. If he had been a stronger specimen, I may have considered making him a low-level demon. Instead, he sought _love_ and a _family_, as if that was something a demon—an Abadeer—would do! I should have left you with that Sam woman long ago, even after your father allowed himself to be bitten by that vampire." She scoffed, stopping in her tracks to sneer at her own thoughts. "He wanted me to love you. He wanted me to take you in and raise you. So the fool gave you his _disease_… the disease that made you immortal."

Hannah stepped into my line of vision, her stance strong with an edge of angry control. With her red demon eyes boring into me, I met her gaze, waiting for her to finish. "With a soul as immortal as my own, I had no choice. I needed an heir to take on that cursed amulet. So I took you. What a stupid, stupid mistake."

I looked away from her, hiding my face in my shaggy hair so she couldn't see my disgust and disdain. "So tell me, _Mom_, if you hated me so much, why didn't you give me the amulet when I wanted it? Why did you want to pry me from my family and everyone I loved before you gave me this curse?"

She scoffed again, turning her head so I couldn't see her face full on even if I wanted to. "You were stupid, and naïve. You would have led the Underworld to ruin, and then there would be _no_ power left for our kind."

Abruptly I shot out of my seat, getting in her face and making her look me in the eye. "But that's not true, is it, Mother? You _cared_ for me! You loved me, your only son! You stand here acting so cold and bitter, but I know… I know that even to a _demon_ like you, you found a place in your heart for me. That's why you used my children to lure me in. That's why the last time you pulled this, you used Fionna against me. You _know_ what love is, because if you didn't, you wouldn't know how to use it like that."

She stood absolutely still, the expression of anger and disapproval seared onto her face. I walked past her, bumping my shoulder into hers as I passed. "You say that my father was the weak one, but look at you now. You hide behind your pride and your status so you don't have to face what you really are."

"You know nothing of pride, boy."

I stopped and let out a short, curt chuckle, shaking and bowing my head with a sarcastic smile on my face. "You're right. Pride is feeling honor and accepting who you are. You have none of that at all."

Without giving her a chance to strike back, I slipped through the floor of her office, letting the shadows encapsulate her as I left. I had no more patience for someone so uncaring, unforgiving.

For a thousand years we went back and forth, playing house and Mommy-Loves-Marshy. For a thousand years I blindly let it go, thinking that she was just busy when the Mushroom Wars hit, that she didn't know where I was. But, I guess, deep inside I knew. I knew she despised me. I knew she wanted nothing to do with me. But I knew, too, that some part of her was still a mother, and some part of her loved me to a point.

Still, I was a means to an end. A burden to bear until she could pawn off this curse to me. I thought about my kids as I headed to my sleeping chambers, how much I loved them, how far I would go—have gone—to save them. They were my world, and I could never imagine them as just some pawns in a sick, 13 thousand year old game. It made my stomach knot just to think that _anyone_ could think that way of their children.

I told myself I wouldn't, but now, I felt I had to. I had to get rid of her. I had to get rid of Hannah Abadeer, my mother, to end her existence. For vengeance? Maybe. For Justice? Possibly. Because she was a terrible, terrible person who threatened the happiness of my children? Definitely.

She was a threat, and, as the King of the Nightosphere, I would eliminate her. By any means necessary.

That was my vow.


	8. Chapter 8: Red Death

**Fionna**

I walked from room to room in the castle, some rooms filled with sunlight, some filled with moonlight, some leading to the outside and others in pure darkness. In each room there was a memory, a scene of my life replaying itself. The first room I went into was replaying the memory of seeing Marshall and Gumball sort of getting along for the first time. The looks on their faces make my heart sink, because seeing them look so meanly at each other was something I hadn't seen in over 20 years.

The second room I walked into held the memory of seeing Gumball leaning over and kissing Marshall for the first time in front of me. I was flooded with feelings of excitement and newness, like I was when I saw it in waking life for the first time. The room was dark, and there was a fire lighting their features. We were all sitting around, talking about something, and then, out of nowhere, Gumball kissed Marshall. And Marshall kissed him back.

The next room I dreamt of held the memory of when Marshall took the opportunity to enjoy the rain with baby Felix. The little boy was wrapped head to toe in rainy weather clothes, but Marshall just swung Felix around and tossed him in the air, all while getting his favorite flannel shirt soaking wet. The sound of Felix's shrill laughter every time Marshall brought him in close for a kiss on the cheek brought the biggest smile to my face and warmed my heart.

The memory room that came after was of the time I walked in on Marshall letting all of the kids tackle him to the ground. They were playing Hero, and he was the monster. Felix, Ember, Lilly, Koda, Gabriel, Elly and Sofia all climbed on top of him, their little limbs thrusting into the air in victory as Marshall rolled his head to the side and stuck his tongue out with his eyes closed, pretending they had killed him. Sometimes I couldn't tell if he was an adult or a child like they were, but they adored him, and seeing their bright, happy faces as they conquered the mighty Marshall was overwhelming.

Then I replayed the memory of Ember and Lilly fast asleep in their big bed, their father in between them, his head lulled to the side and the book he was reading them open in his lap, his daughters snuggling into each side. The moonlight glinted on their faces, and for a moment I could swear that they were all exact replicas of each other. I floated over to the window and closed the curtains, knowing that when morning came, the girls would be so excited to see their daddy had stayed the whole night.

The next door I came up to led to a festival outside. I remembered the festival well. It was the party Gumball threw for Felix for his 9th birthday. The music in the dream was just as clear as the music the night I heard it play. Gumball and I were swaying across the dance floor, Gumball taking the lead and showing off his exquisite kingly dance moves. Just before he could dip me, Marshall cut in, stealing me with ease from Gumball and spinning me around like I was as light as a feather to him. He pulled me in close, his face not even an inch to mine, and just where everyone could see, he gave me a long, loving kiss. Even in the dream, I could taste his lips.

There was no door after that one. The dream twisted from happy memories to bitter ones. The next scene was one I didn't remember fondly. Marshall and I had been fighting the shadow army for hours, stuck back to back with each other, my swords in both hands and his axe in his. We thought we wouldn't come back from that day. We were surrounded, with almost no help, and the shadows were closing in quick. Suddenly, I had no swords, no armor, nothing… not even Marshall. The shadows fell in on me, and in a exaggerated change of pace, the dream changed again.

I was seeing that terrible, terrible night again, except this time I was watching it from an outside perspective. I saw my girls playing with the amulet, I saw my face as I tried to hold back from freaking out. Then Hannah was there, and the girls were asleep. It was all going so fast! I didn't remember it happening this fast. Gumball showed up, and Marshall had the amulet, and the light, and the proclamation, and Hannah's snicker and Gumball's tears, and—

_"Whatever you do, don't leave me here, Fionna. Come for me. Please, come find me."_

Wait, that's not what he said…

I sat straight up in bed, gasping for air and throwing the sheets off my naked body, pushing my hair out of my face as I frantically searched the room. What _was_ that? Why would I dream of such a thing? Was that how I saw things, or is that how I wanted to see them? That dream… it plagued me. I didn't know what to do or think, so quietly I slipped out of bed and threw on a shirt and panties and slipped out of the room without waking Gumball.

The halls of the palace were dark and cold. This time of year we liked to keep the windows cracked to let the cool air in, and every now and then the wind would bring in crunchy, dry leaves of the fall to scatter about the marble floor. It used to be I only had to worry about Marshall hearing me step on them, but as the years went on we all quickly learned that Ember and Lilly had nearly every demon/vampire power that Marshall did. Including super hearing.

I found a window seat to sit on where I leaned back against the sill and looked at the moon, contemplating my dream. I've dreamt of memories before, but never in such finite detail. And that ending… it was like a whisper that fluttered in my brain no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

_"… Come for me. Please come find me…"_

"Mom?" I was swept from my dream-like trance to the sound of one of my daughters' voices. They sounded so completely alike that even I had to look to see who it was.

"Oh, Lilly, I didn't know you were awake. What's bothering you sweetie?" I asked gently, laying my feet back on the cold marble so she could come sit next to me.

"We think it's time, Mom," Ember's voice whispered from the shadows as she stepped out. They were getting better about being able to hide in darkness and use their speed to make it seem like they'd never been there. It was a scary thought, but I knew who they got it from, and that in itself was comforting.

I stood up and met them in the center of the hall, the moon's glow bathing us and the smell and feel of the cool autumn air swirling gently around us. "Time for what?" I asked cautiously, even though I knew.

"It's time we go get Daddy Marshall and bring him home, where he belongs," Lilly answered, taking one of my warm hands in her cold ones.

Ember came up beside me and took my other hand, both of them looking at me with burning intent, like I had no other choice but to say yes. "You know we can't, guys. Your fathers—"

"Daddy Gumball wants Daddy Marshall back as much as we do," Ember interrupted.

"And we know that you're losing the battle to not go, yourself," Lilly finished in perfect synchronization.

I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, closing my eyes and trying to let my brain think. Ember had the heart, the passion, to get anything she wanted. Lilly had the sensitivity and coolness to see through any charade. Between the two of them, with a will as weak as my own, I didn't stand a chance.

I looked to Ember, really looked into her bright red eyes. In them I saw everything Marshall ever was; strong, confident, determined, and that magnetic pull that was impossible to escape from. Then I looked to Lilly, deep into her patient blue eyes. She had Marshall's sensibility, his depth, his power to reason. Was I wrong to let Marshall go so quickly? Was I wrong to take away their father? Gumball had always been there for them, had always acted as a father figure, whether Marshall was there or not. But one thing neither Gumball nor myself could give them was understanding of their supernatural talents. No one could replace Marshall in that. And I saw them there, looking straight at me, embodying everything that was taken from them.

_"Whatever you do, don't leave me here, Fionna. Come for me. Please, come find me…"_

I hung my head and closed my eyes again, a small smile creeping onto my face. Gently I squeezed both of their hands and brought them to my lips, kissing them tenderly. "We need to leave before Daddy Gumball wakes up. Otherwise, he'll change my mind. Pack a light bag, and choose one weapon set. The Nightosphere is unlike anything you've seen before, so be prepared."

I watched as both my girls' faces lit up, both of them biting their lips so they wouldn't squeal too loudly. Suddenly the mood changed, and they both became unbearably severe. "Mom, will… will Dad remember us?" Ember asked quietly, letting go of my hand and taking a step back.

"I… I don't know, Em. There's no way to tell how… or who… he'll be when we get there. The best we can hope for is that he's the same old Marshall," I answered honestly. They were old enough to devise a plan and find out on their own where Marshall was and how to get me to agree to go with them. They went on missions with me. They've seen death and they've seen life. They were both my age when I became a hero. Ember and Lilly were old enough to handle the truth.

"I see," Lilly said, looking down and disappointed.

Ember looked the same, but only for a moment. "I'm bringing him back even if I have to rip him from the Nightosphere with my bare hands."

"That's a little intense, Em," Lilly corrected her, crossing her arms and looking at her sister like she was nuts.

"Alright you two, that's enough. Go! Go before I change my mind!" I commanded to them, pushing past the two of them and heading straight for the armory.

Like shadows in the night, Ember and Lilly disappeared into the darkness, just like Marshall used to do. With determination in my step and unwavering strength in my heart, I marched my way down the halls, down the stairs, and into the room I kept locked so the kids wouldn't get in. There, in the very back, was a beautifully carved red and gold cabinet with wire mesh screens to let the air in. I walked up to it in the dark, laid my hand gently on the smooth, painted wood, and whispered, "Open."

As was promised, the cabinet would only open to my touch and command. With a slight squeak of the hinges, the doors swung open, and there laid my beautiful sword, ready to taste the blood of my enemies. Red Death.

It was one of Billy's swords, the one he used to take down the rage demon that unleashed a small army of other demons on Aaa almost 30 years ago. It was the only sword in existence that was known to be able to not only cut, but kill a demon. Now it called for the blood of Hannah Abadeer, and if the woman who tore my family apart so much as blinks at me the wrong way, Red Death would have its feast.

Slowly, carefully, I coaxed it out of its holding place, running my fingers nimbly up and down the blade and twisting it this way and that to see the glint of light it gave off. Maybe it was the type of prey it hunted, or maybe it was the sheer will of the sword, but it never once needed to be cleaned or polished. It took care of itself all on its own, drinking in the blood of the things it cut and using it to keep its brilliant red coloring. The pummel had a huge blood diamond on the end, and the handle was wrapped in beautiful leather that could only be found in the sacred vines of the Jungle Kingdom.

I slid it gently into a sheath and swung the belt around my waist. Once it was free of the cabinet, I had to keep it protected. It didn't let just anyone touch it. "I'm not out for revenge. I'm not out for blood. All I want is my Marshall back and my daughters safe, and I will do anything to make that happen. I'm bringing you for that 'anything', understand?" I spoke to the sword like it was a soldier or a Candy Citizen in the dungeon. After all, it was no ordinary sword. It needed to know its purpose, and I needed to make sure it understood.

It was hard to describe, but Red Death acknowledged me. It was like the air shifted around it, or it sent some untraceable sensation throughout my body.

"Good," I purred, stroking it gently at my side. "Then we're ready."


	9. Chapter 9: The Nightosphere

Just before the sun began to rise, I met up with Lilly and Ember in the basement of the palace. I needed an inconspicuous place to open the portal to the Nightosphere, somewhere where Gumball wouldn't notice the drawings and the milk all over the place. At least not right away. We never had a need to go to the Nightosphere together, so I didn't know if Gumball knew how to come after us to get us back. I didn't think he would, but I couldn't be too careful. After all, I _was_ taking his daughters, too. As a peace offering, after I dressed in my hero garb, I left Gumball and Felix a note, telling them how sorry I was for going against my word and how much I regretted leaving them. It was hard, but I knew now that I should have done this a long, long time ago.

Lilly looked like a straight up assassin. She had a black turtleneck sweater and black leggings hugging every curve of her body, making it easy for her to blend in anywhere. Her hair was up in a messy bun with her bangs hiding half her face. On either hip sat a long, exotic looking dagger. For their birthday I had a ridiculously skilled blacksmith make them each a weapon that they could call their own. Lilly's daggers looked a lot like the dagger I used to kill the Lich, with their elegant curves and blood-like flow of red coloring from the hilts to the tip of the blade. Her hands were wrapped up carefully in black bandages, and the set of her eyes said she had never been more prepared for anything in her life. She looked like a calm river, emotionless, ready to bend and weave to anything that might come at her.

Ember was the total opposite. She _wanted_ the attention on her. She never fought in the shadows or used stealth to her advantage. She was like me, fighting in front where everyone could see me and where all my enemies would focus on me and me alone. As a tribute, she wore Marshall's old flannel shirt, letting it hang open to reveal her "suck it" tee shirt underneath, her ripped jeans, untamed hair and ratty kicks just adding to the "I don't give a fuck" appearance. For her I had the blacksmith make an axe, just like Marshalls. The double-edged, heavy as hell death weapon was perfect for her. When she stood it up, it was about 5 inches taller than her, but when she swung that thing, she swung it with a purpose. Nobody would get in her way without being brutalized in the process. She had her axe in her hands and a look on her face that said she couldn't wait to try something new. She had a bloodlust in her eyes that made her look frightening, even to me.

I took a moment to admire my daughters, to see how much they've grown up. I guess any other mom would have been horrified to see one daughter looking like a quick death and the other daughter looking like a bloody death, but to me, they were the best thing I could ever ask for.

Without a word, I took out the chalk, drew the face, threw the milk on it, and muttered the incantation I needed to open the portal. Lilly watched me closely, taking in every detail of the ritual, and Ember stood there with her axe in her hands like she was going to tear open the portal herself.

As if the wall had split open, the portal opened and out poured a mess of light and energy with no visible end. It wasn't like the portal to Ooo. This would take us to the underworld, and everything was different in the underworld.

"Stay close to me, and don't engage anyone unless you _absolutely_ have to. You two can probably pass for demons, but that doesn't mean you can go mingle, okay?" For a second I was brought back to that time when I commanded the Army of Aaa, barking out my orders and briefing my generals. "And remember, we're just here to get Marshall back. Ember, that means NO killing things unless you have to."

"Understood," Lilly said, her voice clear and crisp, her nod curt and to the point.

"Yeah, sure, we get it. Let's go!" Ember exclaimed, completely impatient.

I nodded to them, laid my hand on my sword, and stepped through.

* * *

We were greeted with the unusual odor of sulfur and heat in the air. Well, if you could _call_ it air. It was hard to describe just how the environment felt in the Nightosphere. It was hard to breathe most of the time, and it was always this close to being too hot. There was misery _everywhere_, with demons crouching in small groups against walls and in corners, sneering and hissing at us as we passed. Most of the creatures we saw were small, red with wrinkled skin and blood-shot eyes with gnarled teeth and long, pointy noses. Some had wings and flew above us, some had no limbs at all and slithered along the ground. There were a few that just flat out ate the smaller ones and even some that ate themselves.

I was only here once or twice before. Once was to get Marshall back, like I was doing now, except under much friendlier circumstances. I don't know if any of the demons we passed recognized me, but they sure as hell avoided me like I was the plague.

Red Death pulsed at my hip like it was acknowledging my thoughts. Of course they were avoiding me. I had the demon-slaying sword on my belt like it was just another accessory.

The girls floated on either side of me as we came up to the Gate Guardian. It was a giant skeletal 3-headed dog creature guarding the entrance to the City of the Nightosphere, judging who could go forward and who would be devoured. Its three huge heads lumbered back and forth, each taking in the sight of the demons that stood before it. The creature never had good eyesight to begin with, and its massive body made it hard to get close enough to really see what it was looking at.

"Ember, Lilly, stay close. If we don't make any sounds, we can slip past it without it seeing us." They both silently nodded to me, each of them grabbing one of my arms and lifting me up from the ground so I was hovering with them. Slowly, quietly, we floated past the Gate Guardian, not bringing any attention to us at all.

When we reached the other side of the gate, I was struck once more with how terrifying and disgusting this place was. The City of the Nightosphere stretched for what seemed like forever, buildings erected all over the place, demons flying in the skies, statues of Hannah in her evil form on every corner, screams of agony crying out in every direction. It was a truly horrid place to be in. I could only imagine how Marshall must have felt, ruling here over the last few years.

"This… this is the kingdom that Dad commands?" Ember asked, bewildered. Her and Lilly were looking over the city in awe, their faces twisted in disgust and fear.

"This place is unbearable! No wonder he never wanted to take us here!" Lilly exclaimed, grasping her daggers mindlessly for comfort.

"We have to keep moving, guys. I don't know how this place has changed since he's been here, but staying in one place might not be good for our health." I walked forward, knowing Ember and Lilly were following behind me, watching every little thing like they were on high alert.

I was heading towards the river bed where the demons lined up to speak to the ruler of the Nightosphere, but quickly came to notice that the river bed was empty. Not a single demon was waiting to see Marshall.

I stood there in wonderment, trying to figure out why there weren't demons lining up and climbing over each other to get to the palace, when a small figure stepped in front of me, looking me up and down.

"You're gross looking. You guys aren't from around here, are you?" the little demon said, crossing his arm across his sunken chest and stroking his pointy chin.

"I don't understand. Why isn't anyone trying to see the king?" I asked mindlessly, not really paying much attention to the tiny thing.

"Oh, so you _have_ been here! Just not in a really, really long time. Word is that King Marshall isn't taking any requests anymore. He told us all to be happy with what we have. Happy! Can you believe that? What demon can be _happy_? Not even Queen Hannah demanded such a ridiculous thing!" He stood there ranting like we'd known each other forever, being unusually friendly for a demon of the Nightosphere.

"That sounds like Dad," Lilly said bluntly.

"Yeap, definitely Dad," Ember agreed.

"Dad? You mean…" the little demon stepped around me to get a good look at Ember and Lilly, starting at their toes and ending at their faces. He studied them carefully, observing their features, until you could visibly see his understanding stretch across his face. "Hey! Hey everyone! These are—"

I smashed my hand against his mouth, holding him there, keeping him quiet before he spoke another word. "If you want to live you better drop that idea right now. You don't know them. They have nothing to do with King Marshall. Understand?" I whispered it quickly and harshly into his pointy little ear, trying hard not to bring attention to us. A few demons turned to see what the commotion was about, some realizing only a small demon was speaking and turned away, others catching a glimpse of Ember and Lilly and becoming far too interested.

"Mom? I don't like the way they're looking at us…" Lilly clasped onto her daggers again, this time ready to pull them out and stab the first thing that got too close.

I looked around us, seeing more and more demons stopping in their tracks to turn and look at the daughters of Marshall Lee. "You have one chance to get us out of here and as close to the castle as you can before I snap your neck," I said in harsh whispers, letting the small demon go and standing up slowly, gauging the threat that was quickly growing around us.

"Yeesh lady, you think you could be less harsh about it?" he whined, rubbing his neck and mouth where my grasp was probably the most uncomfortable. "Lucky for you three, I'm an expert tunneler." In one quick motion, he raised his claw up, then plunged it down into the ground, crumbling it and creating a hole big enough for two people to go in at a time.

I rushed Ember and Lilly into it, following closely after and dragging the demon down in there with us. He protested, but I pinched his ear and said, "Get us to the castle, or die here." He grumbled and complained, but closed the opening above us and started digging a tunnel down under the city.

It was dark and cramped, and uncomfortable was putting it mildly. The demon walked with ease in the front as he spread the earth around us, furthering the tunnel as he went. "Hey, crazy lady, can I talk now?" he asked, driving his claw into the wall of dirt in front of us and pulling it away.

"Sure," I answered, keeping my hand on my blade in case he wanted to try something while we were stuck underground.

"Why are King Marshall's daughters here? I mean us smaller demons didn't even know he had kids! The guy's like, what, eternally 19? Ain't that a little weird?" Again the demon ranted like we were best friends, talking openly and keeping his pace as he dug the tunnel.

"That's just the way things happened. There's nothing more to it," I said coldly, trying to give the impression that I wasn't much of a talker. The truth is he brought up a good point. Even if we did manage to get Marshall home, eventually his own children will outgrow him. And one day, Gumball and I would have to pass away. If it hurt me _that_ much just to know that Marshall was alive but somewhere else, how would he move on after his family passed? It was something I tried not to think about often. Now that I knew what it felt like to lose someone I loved, I didn't want to think of Marshall having to go through that. Not again.

"Fine, I won't poke. But can I ask why you're here? I mean you must be his girlfriend or something, though I didn't think the king was into older ladies…"

Older ladies? Am I… am I old? "Ignoring the fact that you just called me old, I'll have you know that the reason we're here is none of your glob damned business," I sneered, ready to kill the guy just because.

"Mom, chill out. He's helping us," Lilly soothed, laying a hand on my hunched shoulder.

I took in the best deep breath I could with such little air, and shamefully apologized. "I'm sorry for snapping. Despite the fact that this idiot almost had us attacked by demons, he _is_ helping us get to Marshall." The small demon flashed a smile back at me and continued to dig. "So, since we're on the topic of awkward questions, can I ask you about what's been going on in the Nightosphere since Marshall showed up?"

He went stiff in front of me, stopping his digging for a second before starting again. "Things have been rocky here, I guess you could say. There's not much order because no one's afraid of the guy. He's… _nice_. We've had 300,000 years of evil to rule us, and then this guy shows up and suddenly we have _freedom_. It's weird, and most of the demons down here don't like it." He stopped us and turned around, the light glow of his eyes barely lighting the tunnel. "Can I tell you guys something?" he asked, something sort of like concern riddling his face.

"What is it?" Ember answered, poking her head around me to see him.

"Some of the bigger demons have been working on a way to overthrow him. They want him dead. The change was too hard for them, and they don't know how to handle a nice king. If you guys can get him out of here, he'll probably be saved."

I looked back at my daughters to make sure they weren't took shaken by the information. Lilly took it all in like a silent killer, and Ember looked like her anger was about to boil over. "Why are you telling us this? Why would you help us?" I asked, accusation dripping from my voice.

He sighed and slammed his claw into the earth behind him, making it give way and opening up to another, much larger tunnel that gave us the option to go left or right. "Because I like the guy. I worked in the palace on the construction team while he was ruling, and the way he talked to us… it just… it changed me. It's hard to explain. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way, either. If you're his lady, and those are his daughters, I get now why he wouldn't want to be evil. He's just… a good guy." I looked him over, trying to get a feel for him, a feel for what he was saying. I knew who Marshall was. I knew he was a trickster and liked to mess with people, but he was a good person with a good heart. No amulet could change that. But to be so good that he could change the heart of a demon?

"Anyway, if you head right in this tunnel, it'll take you right under the Nightosphere Palace. He had me build these tunnels so he could get out without Hannah noticing. This one should lead to a dresser in his room. If I were you, I'd stay there 'til he gets there. Everyone in that place is working for Hannah, and she'll be the first one to know if anyone sees you there." He stepped back and held his hand out in the direction we were supposed to go.

Quickly I shimmied into the tunnel, looking around it to make sure nothing was coming, then nodded to the girls to follow me. Lilly came out right after, but Ember stopped in front of the demon, dropping to her knees and hugging him. "Thanks for helping us find our Dad, little guy," she whispered, showing a very small bit of gratitude that was rare in her.

"A sweet thing like you can call me Bex," he said, awkwardly hugging her back. Ember stood up as best she could and came to join us. "If you guys need anything, just call my name. Us demons are good at coming when we're called." And with that, he set off digging in the other direction.

I laid my hand on the wall of the tunnel, using it to guide me in the pitch darkness. Ember and Lilly could see just fine, and as we traveled, they helped me along the way.

We were getting close. So close I could almost feel him again.


	10. Chapter 10: Imprisoned

As we neared the end of the tunnel, I could see the light shining from the ceiling where the tunnel opened up to Marshall's room. I crouched under it and gently pushed the wooden door that led into the dresser above, testing it to see if it could move. It lifted slightly at my touch, so I set it back down and squinted at Ember and Lilly in front of me.

"You girls stay here. Don't come up until I tell you to, okay?" I said, trying to see their faces in the light glow from above.

"Mom, we can handle ourselves," Ember whined. I could see her figure crossing her arms and looking defensive.

"Ember, just… just do what I ask, alright?"

Ember groaned, but Lilly stepped forward and nodded to me, saying, "We'll wait for your command, Mom."

I nodded to them both, not wanting to make any more sound that might bring attention to us down here. Carefully I pushed the wood door up again, opening it all the way. From down here, it looked pretty quiet. There was a light shining through, but directly up it was just as dark as it was in the tunnel. There must have been a hole in the dresser that Marshall slipped through to get down here.

I reached up into the dresser and quietly pulled myself up, thinking to myself how glad I was to still have my strength. After all, I was apparently an old woman. I laid my hand on the hilt of Red Death, ready to strike at anything that might have been waiting for me on the outside. I reached for the doors of the dresser, and—

Before I could get it open, a dozen black whips crashed through the doors, shattering the wood around me and wrapping themselves tightly around my body, holding me still so I couldn't move, let alone reach my sword. The whips yanked me out of what was left of the dresser, dragging me onto the floor and disorienting me for a moment.

"Well well well, look what we have here? A rat in the King's room. Just like Hannah said." The stringent, annoying and high-pitched voice filled the room, and I struggled in my bindings to get a good look at her.

The whips tugged me around, laying me on my back so I could see nearly everything around me. Above me stood a human-like demon with purple skin, a long, spiked tail, a forked, slithery tongue and slanted eyes that looked remarkable like the small set of wings on her back. She looked like one of those succubus demons from books or shows, but the disgusting smirk on her face made my stomach churn.

"Bring this one to the dungeon, boys. And don't let her out of the bindings, even after you've thrown her in there. This one's dangerous." She bent over me, her massive chest nearly grazing my face, and sniffed me. "I can smell it," she hissed, almost like she was enjoying this.

I stayed silent and bit my tongue. Anything I said could lead them to Ember and Lilly in the tunnels, and that was the last thing I wanted. With a big heave, 2 of the stronger looking demons lifted me up onto their shoulders and carried me away. For dramatic effect, I struggled against them. If I went down too easily, someone would get suspicious.

I kicked and writhed and spat at them, anything to keep their attention on me. I called them names and even tried to bite the one my head was closest to. The others that followed and surrounded us just laughed at him, like being bit by a human was funny. I didn't think it was funny. The guy tasted terrible.

My impromptu plan worked, though. Even that succubus demon followed us out, leaving Marshall's room completely empty so that Ember and Lilly could get out. The only thing was… how would they get out of here without me?

I needed to find a way to break free, and fast.

* * *

The two demons carrying me rolled me off their shoulders and, in one great swing, tossed me into a cell in the dungeon of the Nightosphere Palace. There was no way up to my cell but to fly—my cell being about 4 stories up and ingrained into a wall of the dungeon—but to get down… it was a far drop, but I've fallen father.

"Heh heh, you keep wrigglin' around like that and I might have to come in there later and shutchya up," the guard cackled, his words like slimy slugs all over my skin.

"Try it and I'll gut you," I replied, rolling to a wall so I could sit myself up.

"Oooooo, I like 'em feisty. Keep it up, human, and tonight I'll get myself a taste of a real human woman." I groaned and shivered, keeping my disgust to myself.

If I played my cards right, I could get that idiot to come in here. If he really wanted to get to me, he'd have to take off the bindings. That could be my ticket out.

For hours I sat in that cell, shooting 'feisty' remarks at the guard and trying to not let myself think about where Ember and Lilly were or what they were doing. Did they get out of the tunnels? Did they manage to get home unseen? Or… or were they caught? Were they taken to Hannah?

No! No, they couldn't be. They were too strong and too hard-headed to be captured. They had a purpose here. At least, that's what I told myself.

The lights in the prison never dimmed, never changed at all, so I couldn't tell what time it was. For a while I tried to count the ticking sound on the guards watch, but who knows if the time here was even similar to time on the surface.

"Well well, look at that! I got 10 minutes left on my shift. Just enough time to have me some fun with the new prisoner." The guard poked his head around the wall to look at me through the bars. I tried to push myself into a corner, partially to look helpless and partially to give me an edge once he took the bindings off.

"Try it, I dare you," I hissed, looking like I would bite his face off.

"Don't mind if I do," he growled, lumbering his big, bloated body over the lock of my cell and twisting the key into it. He swung the barred gate open, stepped in and closed it behind him. Damn. He wasn't totally stupid. "Now be a good girl and lay still for me. If you struggle, you might make me work overtime."

The smell of him made me nauseous, and the sight of his fat jumping with every step made me want to puke. I bit my tongue and snarled at him, trying to give off the impression that I _wasn't_ about to jump him. He unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants, the creepiest smile I've ever seen plastered on his face. With unimaginable force, he fell to his knees, shaking the floor, and grabbing me by my jeans to pull me closer to him. I struggled in the bindings, thinking that if he saw that they were holding me back, he'd try to take them off to make it more… fun.

The disgusting, smelly, greasy guard reached behind him and pulled out a switchblade, holding it up to his face and twisting it so the light glinted. "This should do the trick," he said in his grumbly voice. Perfect! That's just what I was looking for. Carefully, he bent over me, gliding the blade up my shin, past my knee, and stopping at my hip, where he pressed it into the denim. In a quick slice, he shredded my jeans on the side, cutting into my skin a little and making me scream. Before I could react, he cut down the other side, making my pants totally loose.

"W—wait, what about the bindings? Wouldn't it be more fun if I had the chance to hurt you?" I asked, my eyes wide and my heart pounding in my chest. The bindings only held my arms to my sides and ended just below my belly button. The way he cut my jeans… he didn't even need the bindings off to do what he wanted to do.

"What, you think I'm stupid? I know who you are, Fionna the Human. I ain't letting you free for nothin'. I'm gonna get my kicks and leave you here to wait for me to come fuck you, again and again, every night. Won't my buddies be jealous when they here I got some ass from Fionna the Human?" The guard threw his switchblade across the cell, falling on his hands above me, licking his lips.

"N—no! Stop it! Get off of me!" I tried to kick him, but he rested his knees on my thighs, making it impossible to move under his weight and nearly cracking my bones in the process.

He just chuckled and slowly lowered his head, his hot, rotting breath covering my face. I struggled and writhed and did everything I could to avoid it, but I was trapped. Hopelessly, unbearably trapped.

There was a thud that echoed close to our heads, and without warning, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body fell flat on top of me. The weight of it nearly knocked the wind out of me, but the sight of Lilly's dagger in the back of his head brought my breath back.

Ember walked up next to us and shoved the guard off of me, rolling him over onto his back, the dagger holding his head up in an unnatural way.

"Oh my—oh my glob! You—you two saved me!" I cried, near to the point of hysterics with my heart beating wildly and my body still shaking in fear.

Ember said nothing. She stepped over me, swung out her axe, and in one swift move, plunged it into the dead guards' neck. The blood splattered around us, hitting me in the face and getting all over her clothes. Lilly straddled my body, using her other dagger to slice off the whip bindings that held me still.

As soon as I was free I shot straight up, sitting on the floor of the cell and cradling my blue eyed girl against me, rocking her back and forth and thanking her over and over. She wrapped her arms around me and said, "Nothing in this world or the next would keep us from getting to you, Mom."

Ember knelt down beside us, holding her axe up in one hand, her eyes searching my face. "Did he hurt you, Mom? Are you alright?"

I grabbed her by the head and pulled her into my tight embrace, holding them both tightly against me. After enough awkward, light struggling, they were able to pull away from me and help me up.

My jeans fell totally off my bloodied hips, not even my underwear staying on without me holding them there. "I-I'm fine. Just a little shaken." I picked up my jeans and held them around my hips, searching the environment for anything that could help me keep them up.

"Are your legs alright? They look hurt," Lilly said, leaning to the side to get a better look at my hips.

"I'll be okay. I just need…" I saw the belt from the dead guards pants. Quickly I bent over him and yanked the belt out of their loops. I could wrap the thing around me twice and there would still be room left over, but it worked. Carefully, trying to avoid touching the gashes on my legs, I looped the belt as best I could into my torn jeans, hoping that would be enough to keep them up.

Lilly walked around me, stopping in front of the grotesque severed head. She gently moved it with her boot, rolling the head over to reveal her dagger. With a refined rage, she placed her foot on the head, swept down, and pulled the bloodied dagger out of the demon guards' skull. Like a skilled killer, she wiped the gore off of her blade onto her leggings and set it in its holster on her hip.

For the first time I truly saw my daughters for who they were. They were heroes, like me. They wielded their weapons and used their skills to help others. I liked to think that they were still my little girls, my little princesses who liked to bicker with their older brother and pretend they could take down hydras. But I couldn't pretend anymore. My girls had grown up. It took them saving me from getting raped in a prison cell for me to realize it, but they were true heroes.

Ember and Lilly may have even surpassed me. And really, I was okay with that.

"How did you guys find me?" I asked, letting the last of the thoughts of my twin heroes flutter away.

"When we heard those jackoffs leaving with you, we waiting until it was totally quiet and made our way into Dad's room. From there we could follow your scent. With a little invisibility and some quick dagger work from Lilly, we were able to slip past most of the demons in the palace," Ember explained, setting her axe back in its holster between her shoulders.

"We're just glad we got here in time," Lilly added, laying a hand on my shoulder.

I laid a hand on hers and smiled, feeling beyond relieved that my daughters were part demon and part vampire. What would I have done if I came by myself?

"I don't tell you two this enough, but you guys are _incredible_," I said, pride soaking my tone.

"We know," Ember said nonchalantly, shrugging and accepting it as it was.

I chuckled a little and hooked my arm around Ember's shoulders, bringing her back down to earth. "Alright, Ember, don't get all stuck up about it," Lilly scolded, tugging on a strand of Ember's hair and walking towards the cell door. "We still need to find Dad."

"Lilly's right. We should go," I said, kissing Ember on the side of the head and walking awkwardly over to Lilly. My cuts burned and my pants sat really uncomfortably around my hips, but at least they were on.

Ember nodded and followed close behind. When she reached the door, she slammed her heel into it, making the steel scream and tear as it broke open against the force of her kick. There was a massive rallying cry from the prisoners in the other cells, some of them rooting for us and some of them demanding we get them out. There were even a few trying to get us caught.

Lilly scooped me into her arms, like her father used to do, and along with Ember, the three of us floated down to the ground. With the sound of reinforcements flooding the halls, Ember and Lilly quickly led us into the shadows and down into a sewer, the guards just barely missing us.


	11. Chapter 11: Found

The sewers smelled… oddly fruity. What we considered to be bananas squished and smashed under our feet as we quietly snuck under the sewer grates of the palace. It had been _years_ since I had to sneak around in the sewers to get to a royal person, but just thinking of it made me smile. Adventuring had always been my calling, no matter how much danger or how deep in the stuff I ended up in.

"Mom," Ember said, throwing a hand out in front of us to stop us. The light shining down from a grate glistened on the wet walls and rotting bananas around us, the sewage just barely missing the cuts on my thighs as we walked. She threw her head up in the air and took a big whiff of the air, searching the light from the grate intently. "I can smell Dad. He's close."

"I don't hear anyone around," Lilly added, tilting her head to the ceiling and listening carefully. "This could be a good place to get back up."

I walked between them and pushed on the grate. It didn't lift as easily as the wood door in Marshall's room, but with a shove, the heavy, rusting metal lifted from its place in the floor. I pushed it to the side, carefully keeping the sound down so no one would hear the movement. Ember came up behind me, raising me on her shoulder and being careful around the wounds on my legs as she pushed me up into the room.

It looked like some sort of bath house. The walls and tiles were all different shades of really light colors, and there were walls with shower heads and tubs filled with steamy water everywhere. I didn't think demons bathed, but I guess there was a lot I didn't know about demons. I looked below me and gave Ember and Lilly the go-ahead to lift me up and to come up after me, putting my finger to my lips so they knew to keep quiet.

"This place smells frilly, like your shower at home, Mom," Ember whispered into the echoing room. She scrunched her nose as she looked around, observing the tubs and showers.

"A bath would be soooo nice right now," Lilly sighed, scraping the banana stuff off her pants with her boots.

"Stop daydreaming, Lil. I can smell Dad. It smells like… like he's in that room…" Ember tilted her nose to the air again, like a dog, picking up where Marshall was.

"What room, Ember?" I asked, feeling only slightly inadequate next to my super-human daughters.

"Dad's room. The one we came in through. But I can hear that guard witch demon thing close by. She's talking to someone…" Lilly tilted her head back and forth, trying to listen to whatever conversation was happening down the hall. "She said Dad's name, but that's all I could hear. We need to be careful."

I took a step between them and laid a hand on their shoulders. "You two do some really great work. Where would I be without you?"

"In that prison cell," Ember answered mindlessly.

"Shut up, Em!" Lilly snapped, ready to claw her sisters eyes out.

I sighed and chuckled, then began to quietly pace my way to the exit. I took a dagger out from my weaponry belt and poked it through the sliver of an opening in the doorway. In its reflection all I could see were empty, rounded halls covered from top to bottom in red wallpaper with portraits of past Abadeer rulers lining them. Carefully, I stepped through the door, keeping my back to the wall, waiting for any sign that would tell me we were spotted. When no sign came, I leaned back into the door and waved for Ember and Lilly to come through.

They floated out of the door, avoiding using the ground so they could be silent. As we carefully glided down the halls, all three of us took in the images and portraits on the walls. There were 11 different Abadeer demons, all of which had that crazy amulet around their necks. One by one we noticed how each demon began to look less and less frightening and more... aged.

The last portrait was of Marshall. He had his hair back in a small pony tail and was wearing garb from way before the Mushroom Wars. His eyes looked dull, empty, and his was the only portrait featuring a ruler with vampire fangs. Anyone could see it plainly; he hated it here.

"If Dad didn't look so sad, I'd say he can clean up nice when he wanted to," Ember joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Did you hear that?" a familiar, annoying, high-pitched voice hissed from down the hall. The way it echoed made it sound like that succubus was far away, but we still couldn't take the chance.

"We need to hide!" I whispered, looking around frantically for a room to run into or something to hide under. We were smack in the middle of a winding hall, and we couldn't tell which way the succubus was coming from. Not even Lilly and Ember could make it out with all the echoing.

Just as the succubus rounded the corner, something completely invisible hurdled into us, slamming the three of us against the wall. I tried to push against it, to struggle and get us free, but the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard whispered, "Shh! Stay quiet!"

Instantly, I relaxed in his grasp and fell back against the wall. When I looked to the left and right of me, I noticed that I couldn't see Ember or Lilly at all. When I looked down, I couldn't see myself either. Were we… were we _invisible_?

"What the hay? I know I heard something over here," the succubus squealed in her overwhelmingly loud voice. I cringed at the pitch, wanting more than anything to cut her voice box out just so I didn't have to hear her anymore.

"Sorry, Sal. Looks like nothing's here," a dopey, short demon with spikes lining his back answered, turning to walk the other way. "We should check in with Hannah, though. Don't want to be late to that meeting."

The succubus just stood there in the hall for a moment, smelling the air and searching the walls. My heart thudded in my chest, but for the sake of my family I stayed still and kept calm. I could take her if I needed to, but if she had any more of those binding whips, I don't know if I could be so lucky the next time around.

Finally she gave up, and with a big _hmph_ she turned around and headed down the hall with the dopey demon. After a few long minutes, the force that held us down lifted off of us, unsheathing us, as well as himself, from his invisibility. Before I even had a chance to say anything, he whispered harshly, "It's not safe here. Follow me." With that, he grabbed my hand, and I grabbed Lilly, who grabbed Ember, and together we shuffled quickly down the hall in the other direction.

Marshall led us to a big wooden door, opened it slightly to peek in, and then pulled us all into it, shutting it behind him as fast as he could. The room looked familiar. Sort of like an office, but carved from stone with only a few bookcases and a fire place on the back wall. Around the room were pictures of Marshall and Hannah, Marshall looking young and rebellious and Hannah looking like… well… Hannah.

He swung around, and in one big swoop he caught all three of us in his unimaginably strong arms. He crushed us together, holding us tightly, whispering, "Oh, glob! I missed you! I missed you so much!"

We all tried to hug him back, but with three to one odds, I decided to take a step back and let the girls hug their father. They literally jumped onto him, one on each side, wrapping their arms around his neck and crying into his shoulder or hair. He had his head bent into their touching shoulders, crying with them, holding them tightly, one in each arm. He kept swinging his head back and forth, kissing their faces and hair, trying to get a look at them but almost overwhelming himself by seeing them both at once. They looked exactly alike, but any parent would be able to see how different they are. That's why he couldn't keep his eyes on just one of them. "Oh my glob! Look how big you've gotten! You're—you're all grown up!" he cried, pulling Ember's hair away to look in her face, then cupping Lilly's chin with his hand to look at hers.

"We missed you so much, Dad! We want you to come home!" Ember cried out, smashing her tear-stained face into his shirt.

"You don't belong here," Lilly wailed, tugging on his collar. "You belong at home, with us and Felix and Daddy Gumball!"

Again, Marshall hugged them close to him, stroking their hair and comforting them, rocking them as best he could back and forth like he used to do for me when I was upset or for Gumball when he was scared. He hadn't changed one bit. "I know, I know. I want to come home," he cooed, leaning his head on Lilly's hair and stroking Ember's messy head.

I stood back and watched them be reunited, the tears falling silently down my cheeks. This… this is what I've wanted for them for what felt like so long. My children deserved to have their fathers, and my lovers deserved to have their children. To see them come together like this, after knowing for 3 years that it would never happen… it just… it consumed my being. Never in my life had I witnessed or felt such a powerful thing.

Marshall peeked up at me, smiling warmly with tears in his bright red eyes. It struck me that this was probably the first time he'd smiled since he was taken here. Gently he kissed both of his daughters on the forehead, then set them down and walked over to me. With amazing quickness and speed, he was suddenly there, right in front of me, with his arms around me and his face not even an inch away from mine.

Without hesitation, I closed that gap. I crushed my lips to his, threw my arms around his neck, and molded every inch of my body to every inch of his. He kissed me hungrily, with passion and fire and need, plunging his tongue into my mouth and not even caring that his fangs were tearing gashes into my lips. I didn't care either. I found my Marshall, my daughters' father. I would have let him do much worse things if I could. He tasted just the same, felt just the same, even smelled exactly the same. But it was the separation, the length of time spent away from him that made all of those things different. There was so much more to it than I ever noticed before; the velvet feel of his commanding lips, the cool taste of his probing tongue, even the way he held me against him, like he was trying to pull me into him, to make us one.

I pulled away to catch my breath, cupping his face in my hands, holding him in front of me so I could really, really look at him again. His bright red eyes, the point of his nose, the reddening fluffiness of his lips, his smooth jawline and the way his hair always falls perfectly in front of his face. He was one of my kings, and I had no words to describe how much I missed him.

"Glob, Fionna, you look like a goddess," he whispered, holding me tightly to him and running his hands down my back.

Lilly cleared her throat to get our attention. Marshall turned his head to them and I peeked around his shoulder, seeing their disgusted faces. "What?" I demanded, wondering what I missed.

"You guys are gross. Cute, but gross," Ember answered, rubbing her runny nose on her sleeve and crossing her arms.

"What, I can't romantically embrace your mother after not seeing her for so long?" Marshall asked sarcastically, turning to face them.

"Embrace all you want. It's the kissing that's gross," Lilly answered, standing next to Ember and looking like an exact replica of her sister.

"Oh, you mean _this_ kissing?" I asked, pulling Marshalls face down to mine and forcing my lips to his again. I could feel him smile against my mouth, but he cradled my head in his palm and held me to him, kissing me with more meaning and purpose than before.

"Ugh! Yes, _that_ kissing!" Ember groaned, making Marshall and I break from our romantic entanglement to laugh at our daughters.

"Alright, fine, we won't be so gross about it," I said, putting my hands up in a surrendering gesture. I could see their smiles creeping across their faces, Ember's coming more stubbornly than Lilly's.

Together they floated over to us, each tucking themselves under one of their fathers' arms like they used to do when they were younger and Marshall would dance with them both. I took a moment to look at the three of them so close together. Ember and Lilly looked just like Marshall in so many ways; their wild, unruly black hair, their signature bluish skin, the small little fangs that barely poked out, even their noses and chins. What struck me most, though, was their smiles. All three of them had that big, infections grin that just melted your heart. And when they were together like this, seeing each other for the first time in years, it was like you could almost see the warm glow coming off of them.

Finally, I had a piece of my family back.


	12. Chapter 12: Trapped

"Dad, where did you learn to cloak more than yourself like that?" Lilly asked Marshall in wonderment, phasing her hand between being visible and invisible.

"It's… hard to explain, Lilly. It's an unnatural thing. I couldn't have done it without the amulet," Marshall replied, looking sad and uncomfortable.

We all went silent for a moment, being brought back to the realization that, even though we found him, he was still held prisoner here by that amulet. No matter how hard we would try to get it off, it would always find its way back to him.

"You're not coming home, are you, Dad?" Ember asked into the still, heavy room. She sat on the ground, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on the hole in her jeans. Those small words were enough to bring everything back into perspective.

Marshall sighed, then went and sat next to her, hanging his arm around her hunched shoulders. "Even if I could, this amulet would force me to come back."

"But why? Why did you take that stupid amulet, Dad? You knew this would happen, so why did you take it?!" Ember burst out, shoving him off of her and standing up to tower over him, her anger seething around her.

He stood up slowly, trying not to get her angrier, his whole disposition looking defeated. "I had to, Ember. It was either me, or one of you, and I—"

"Then why didn't you let _me_ take it? I would have done it! I would have taken your place!" Ember cried, her fists clenched at her sides and her teeth gnashing together.

"Ember, please, try to—" I tried, taking a step towards her.

"No!" she wailed, stepping back and letting her hair cover her angry face. "I can't… I can't stand to see him like this, Mom. I… I would have taken his place… I would have done anything to keep him from this—this _slavery_."

"Ember, Dad chose this to _protect_ us from it. Don't you think he would be even worse if he knew you were down here, ruling in his place?" Lilly interjected, appearing by her sister to lay a hand on Ember's shaking shoulder.

"Well what about us, Lil? What about all the lies they fed us? What about all those nights we listened to Mom and Daddy Gumball crying together because of how much they missed him? What about how _we_ cried when he wasn't at our birthday? What about—"

_SLAP!_

Ember cradled her face where Lilly's hand made contact, her eyes wide open and her mouth hanging slack. We all stood in awe at what just happened. Lilly stood tall, her eyes blazing into the side of Ember's head, the sound of the slap still reverberating throughout the room. "Be grateful for his sacrifice. Stop being a selfish brat. Stop worrying and crying over something that we can't change. We're here now, with Dad, and that in itself is better than anything we could have hoped for." Lilly sneered at her sister, who stood still in shock, before she sighed and pulled Ember's shoulders up to stand her up straight. "I'm sorry I hit you. You tend to lose it sometimes… Besides, even if he _did_ let one of us take the amulet, he'd have to make us immortal somehow, or else the stupid thing wouldn't have worked, anyway."

Ember took a deep breath and stood up straight, pulling her hair behind her ear so we could see her face and the big, reddening handprint on her cheek. She cleared her throat and said, "Y—yeah, you're right. Sorry..."

A moment of tension and silence passed between the four of us as we stood in the center of that odd underworld office, not knowing what to say or do next. We'd come so far just to find Marshall, but now that we had him, what were we going to do?

"In the last few years I've been down here, I've been snooping around Hannah's things. Old documents and books, research, that kind of stuff. I was trying to find some answers about the amulet, but…" Marshall trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

I entwined my fingers in his, looking up into his face and telling him silently that I wanted to hear whatever it was he had to say. "But what, Marshall?"

"But… the only theory as to how to end the curse on the amulet, well… it might not be worth it. If it even works." His eyes were downcast, skimming the floor as an excuse not to look at us.

"You mean, letting it have all your immortality…" Lilly answered the question Marshall couldn't answer himself, the question we all wanted to ask. "Dad, I don't understand. Why is that so hard? Don't… don't you _want_ to grow old with Daddy Gumball and Mom?"

Marshall but his lip and took his hand out of mine, hiding his face completely from us.

"Marshall," I cooed, stroking his arm, trying to coax him to come out from the wall he was putting up.

"Of course," he whispered, his voice strained, like it was getting caught in his throat. "Of course I do! I've thought about that every day from the moment I met them. I've wanted to be mortal for so long, just so I could be with them and not have to worry about them leaving me behind… and you, my girls, my daughters… you're—you're mortals, too. What would I do when everyone grows old and dies? How would I get past that? How could anyone bear to see their loved ones and their children die before them?" Marshall looked up, tears pooling in his eyes again as he fought his own emotions. "Of course I want to be mortal, but it's not that simple. For us, for the immortals, our immortality isn't just a cool trick or an item we can take off and set aside. It's our life force. We can't age, and killing us is nearly impossible, but those are just added benefits of having such a life. If I gave up my immortality—"

"Then you give up your life," I whispered, finishing his thought for him.

"Yeah," he answered, clenching his fists and biting his tongue. He wasn't just sad anymore. He was angry. "Believe me, Lilly, I've tried to find another way. I've tried to find the answers, even something more definite than a 'maybe' when it came to losing my immortality. The thing is, no immortal has ever been in this situation. No one's ever been forced, or even willingly gave up their immortality, so no one can be certain what actually happens when we do. Even the generations of Abadeers are still around, the ones that pawned off the amulet to the next ruler in line for so long. With centuries of their immortality being sucked away, they've grown weak and feeble, and usually just found a hole to hide in for the rest of eternity. Even my mother isn't as strong as she used to be, but she hides behind me and my throne and keeps a guard of her own." He let out a big sigh, then slumped down into a stone-carved chair that sat at the desk by the fire place. "Even if I did just… _die_… who knows what kind of havoc that would wreak on Aaa? There would be no one to take my place, no amulet to demand a ruler of the Abadeer line. Hannah wouldn't be able to take the throne again, because she's too weak. There would be chaos throughout the Nightosphere, and no doubt it would flood Aaa, too."

"Marshall, don't talk like that. You won't die. I won't let you. We'll find a way," I said taking a step towards him and running my fingers through his soft, shaggy hair.

With a sad, melancholy smile on his face, he looked up at me and said, "I don't think so, Fi. Not this time. This time, we might really be stuck."

"You've _got_ to be kidding, Dad," Ember interrupted, her boisterous voice changing the mood of the room drastically. "You know you're talking to Mom, right? Mom's done the impossible, like, every day. She'll find a way. And we're going to be right here to help her."

"She _did_ land the Candy King _and_ the Vampire King in one shot," Lilly said, looking like she was thinking dramatically with her fingers on her chin and her face tilted up.

"Not to mention she saved both of them from this Hannah chick before," Ember added, looking behind her to her sister.

"And she _did_ break that 100 year ice curse," Lilly continued, taking a step towards Ember.

"Let's not forget that she defeating the lumping Lich!"

"Didn't she take out almost a whole shadow army, too?"

"She did, _after_ she gave birth to the two greatest daughters ever. And that son of hers too, I guess," Ember shrugged, as if making this list of all my accomplishments was just another thing she did.

"And now look, she broke us into the Nightosphere to save our father's sorry butt. Again," Lilly finished, throwing her arm around Ember's shoulder, staring Marshall down with a smirk on her face to match the smirk on Ember's face.

Marshall stared at them in disbelief. I stared at them, wondering where to start. Did I really do all those things? I mean, of course I did, but when they said it like _that_, even I had to gawk at myself. They made it sound like I could do anything. Marshall closed his open mouth, smiling and shaking his head, before he stood up and pulled both of them into a long, suffocating embrace.

"I don't know why I ever doubted you three," he chuckled before turning around and pulling me into the hug. "I've got some really amazing women in my life."

"We know, Dad. You just need to trust us. Lilly and I came from Mom, and Mom came from Billy. Just knowing that should be enough for you to put your faith in us," Ember said, pulling away from the big group hug to look at us. Lilly stepped back with her, a small smile on her face and her arms crossed.

"Well I guess now we need to figure out what to do with that amulet," I said, trying to get us all back on track. To be honest all that faith they had in me scared me. For so long I felt like I'd failed them or led them to danger; from that moment Seeress gave me that first prophecy to the moment we were almost all captured down the hall just a little while ago, I felt like I was always bringing danger to my family. To hear them and see them have so much trust in me and my abilities… I wasn't really sure how to react to it. I could be the Hero of Aaa just fine, but to my kids, being their hero… well, I was happy just being their mom.

Marshall let go of me, the two of us being the last ones in the hug, and walked over to the window, looking out over the landscape of the Nightosphere. "The only thing we can go off of is the fact that the amulet is designed to collect immortality. Maybe giving it all of one person's immortality in one shot would overload it or something, who knows? We could try to seek out the first Abadeer and ask him about it, but he's probably in the same boat that we all are. The succubus that cursed the thing 13,000 years ago has been long gone, so asking her is out." He turned around to face us, leaning up against the window and crossing his arms. "Then there's the whole 'who's going to rule the Nightosphere?' thing to think about."

"There's a lot on our plate, and not a lot of time. One of the smaller demons down in the city said that everyone here is working for Hannah, and I don't want to think about what she would do if she found us here," I said, trying to sum it up. Then I was reminded of what else Bex told us before he sent us here. "He also mentioned an uprising, a bunch of demons looking to overthrow you. He said the quicker we get you out of here, the better."

Marshall's face scrunched into a look of confusion and deep thought. He didn't seem as affected as I thought he would be. Then, out of nowhere, he let one arm fall to his side and raised the other to his face, hiding his sarcastic smile. "You want to know something funny? Hannah said that would happen, and I told her I welcomed it."

"Marshall! An uprising could be dangerous! Especially a demon uprising!" I looked at him in disbelief, wondering where he was in his head that would make him think being overthrown in the demon world was a good idea.

"At the time, I was sure I was never going to see my family again. But now, here you are, and things are different." The sarcastic smile melted from his face as he hung his head, looking defeated again. "I just don't know what to do, Fi. I feel trapped."

"Well first maybe we should find a place to hide, Dad. At least for the time being," Lilly chimed in, keeping her voice light so Marshall wouldn't plummet into that darkness again.

"I saw what happened to my room. That's obviously not safe," he said, his eyebrows furrowing together as he thought about it. "How did you guys get caught?"

"It wasn't 'you guys'. It was just me. And that succubus lady was waiting for me with her guards. She said Hannah told her there would be a rat," I answered, stepping forward to wrap my arm around his.

"So she already knows you're here? Damn!" His eyes shifted rapidly back and forth as he thought hard about what had changed. "If she already knows you're here, then there's no point in hiding. Her guard will find you, and they'll do a better job of keeping you restrained next time. Maybe we could—"

"Well look what we have here, boys! The pretender king conspiring to hide his human wench and half-blood spawn. Won't Hannah be pleased to hear this?" That voice. That wretched, annoying, high-pitched voice. She found us.

Sal, the succubus guard, burst through the door, a flood of demons flying into the room from behind her. She had her hands on her hips and a grin on her face that made my stomach churn. Quickly I drew Red Death, slicing into the first wave of demons that came at me. Frantically I looked around the room, watching Lilly move like liquid lightening around the attackers and getting their weak points, seeing Ember swing her axe with so much power that she sliced through the walls without slowing down at all.

I plunged Red Death into a demon coming at me with his claws out, using the sword to catapult myself over the crowd to get to them. Just as I landed, a demon appeared out of thin air behind Lilly, knocking her in the head. She stopped moving.

Oh glob, she stopped moving!

I ran, sprinted towards her, or tried to. There was a loud _THUD_! and a wave of pain reverberating through my head, coming from the side of it just above my ear. My vision went dark, and all the screaming and tearing and sounds of lashing slowly faded into the nothingness.

They captured us.


	13. Chapter 13: Fate

**Gumball**

_"Dear Gumball,_

_I'm sorry I went back on my word and broke my promise. I'm tired of having an incomplete family, and our daughters made it clear that they wouldn't take it anymore, either. Lilly, Ember and I all went to the Nightosphere to get our Marshall back. When we come home, we're going to come home as a whole._

_Take good care of Felix for me. Tell him his sisters and I love him, and that we're bringing his dad home. _

_I love you. Always and forever._

_ Love, Fi."_

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I read the note in the bright morning light. I thought the bed felt oddly empty, and now I knew why. Fionna had taken the twins to the Nightosphere.

I didn't know whether to fly out of bed and find a way to get to them, or to just lay back down and hope I woke up from this nightmare. More than half of my family was in the Nightosphere, and I had no way of knowing what was happening.

For a moment I was angry. Angry that she would take our daughters with her. Angry that she wouldn't just let it go and try to move on. Angry that she would risk herself _again_ for something she wasn't even sure she could save. But then… then I laughed to myself. Of course I knew she would do this. She's Fionna the Human. Fionna, the Hero of Aaa. Fionna, the Candy Queen. Fionna, the lover to the Candy King and the Vampire King, and the mother of the three finest children in the world. There was never any chance of her staying here while Marshall was in there.

And really, how could I blame her? If I were a stronger man, I would have gone after him, myself, a long, long time ago.

"Dad? Dad!" Felix's voice rang out in the echoic halls, his bare feet padding against the clean marble. He threw open the doors to my bedroom just as I was standing up, the note in my hand and the look on my face that told him I knew everything. "Dad, Lilly and Ember are gone. I can't find them anywhere! And Mom! I can't find her, either!"

"I know, Felix. Your mother wrote me a note. They left," I replied calmly, letting my tone soothe his anxiety.

"Where'd they go? Why would they leave without telling me?" he asked frantically, halfway jogging up to my side to look at the note. "What's that?"

"It's the note that Mom left to tell us that she… and your sisters… went to the Nightosphere."

His mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide as he searched the note for more answers. "The… the Nightosphere? Are they… Dad, are they…?"

"They went to get Marshall," I finished for him, folding the note up and setting it gently on my nightstand where I found it.

"Dad, I'm so sorry! I didn't tell any of them, I swear! All my research I kept to myself. I never spoke a word of it! I—"

"Felix, it's okay! You know what kind of woman your mother is. Glob forbid she sit still while her family is in danger. And your sisters! Well, we couldn't really expect them to not snoop around for long, could we?" I smiled at my grown up son. He was as tall as me, with my hair and eyes, but glob, did he look like his mother. He had her courage, her sense of justice, and her undying loyalty.

He was silent for a moment, not looking me in the eye, his face looking tormented and full of doubt. "I don't like this, Dad. I feel like… like something's wrong. Like I need to be with them, like I need to protect my mother and little sisters."

I stood there and observed him for a moment, took in his distorted features, the tension in his shoulders, the uneasiness in the way he held his fists. "Well, I guess we'll need to find a way to go and protect them, won't we?" I said, ruffling his troubled little head and walking past him to find a shirt.

He watched me, confused, but ready to do whatever it was I had in mind. "Dad…?"

"How about we go and see The Seeress?"

"So the king has come to ask for his fortune, finally," the small, childish girl chided as her white eyes stared blankly into the mirrors around her. Felix and I hadn't even made it fully into her room before she spoke.

"I'm afraid I may need one this time, Seeress," I replied, feeling only slightly guilty. Fionna was always the one who gathered information from Seeress. I just saw the girl as a friend, an advisor. I knew she felt like her gifts could be used more often to better the kingdom, but I always wanted to rule with my own heart and head. What kind of a king would I be if I ruled in the future instead of the present?

"Would you like the past first, or the future?" she asked, tilting her head back to peek at us… sort of…

"When did they leave, Seeress? How long have they been gone?" Felix asked eagerly. He took up the same philosophy on ruling that I did; to rule in the present. But Felix was no stranger to Seeress and her fortunes. They played together as he grew up, and she was one of his closest friends.

She turned to face us, her pure white eyes still searching the cosmos, but her mind fully present in the room. "They left just after midnight. The queen was having nightmares again, and when she was confronted by the princesses, she had no will to stay here. It was inevitable." The little girl smiled from beneath her long, ankle-length chestnut hair, before starting again. "Had the king and the prince only asked me, they would have known sooner," she teased, pulling her hair behind her ear. "Though, I suppose you both already knew it was coming, didn't you? You didn't need Seeress to tell you that the queen would leave with her daughters."

Felix and I both hung our heads, unable to deny her subtle accusations. "Alright, well, how about the future then? Can you see that?" Felix asked, trying to change the subject.

Seeress looked up, almost as if she was searching the future for us. We knew better. She already knew. She's already seen it. Whether she had the capacity to know all things always, or if she just watched for specific things, I could never tell. But we knew she was just playing the part. "The Shadow Queen… she still blocks me. I cannot see the fate of Marshall Lee. And Fionna… the deeper she gets, the harder it is for me to see her."

"What does that mean?" I asked, trying to decode her cryptic messages.

She sighed and looked down, doubt spreading across her face. "You should know that Fionna… well, Fionna has no fate. Her destiny was to defeat the Lich or die by him, and she did the former. Her future is not set in stone, like so many others. I can only see her future based off of the decisions she makes in the present."

"But what about all those times I asked you about her coming home from missions? You knew that just fine!" Felix exclaimed, looking confused again.

"She had decided she would win, that she would come home to her family, and so I foretold that to you. But she's in a place where she doubts herself. It has been a very long time since she's had to be this strong, Felix. Her doubt is what clouds my vision."

Doubt? Fionna? Fionna never doubts. Not when it came to her resolve to win, to fight, to push through. She's accomplished so much in her lifetime, and not once did she doubt herself. So why now? "Seeress, is there any way we can get to the Nightosphere to help her?"

"I can open a portal for you to go to where she and the twins are, but I would not recommend it. Without my vision guiding you I cannot tell you what will come of your trip. I can't foresee if you all return safely."

"No! Seeress, I don't care. My family is there and I need to be there to help them." Felix's shoulders were back, his chin up, his resolve unbreakable.

Seeress tilted her head towards me, her eyes looking off blankly in my direction. "What says the king of this land? Should something happen to you and your family, you will leave this kingdom with no ruler."

I took a deep breath and a step forward, laying my hand on my sons shoulder. "If Fionna won't decide her fate, I will. We _are_ coming back, Seeress. All of us."

The small, pale girl smiled ever so slightly before turning her back to us. "Very well. If that is what Your Highness desires, so shall it be. I would enjoy a little more clarity, anyway."

She walked over to a tall mirror towards the corner of her room. It had a dark wooden frame with hints of silver and gold around the edges, and the glass looked like it had never been touched. Seeress waved her small hand in front of the mirror, murmuring a chant that I couldn't possibly hope to hear. With each whispered word, the glass changed little by little, as if it were fracturing and fragmenting. It no longer showed the room we were in, but a dark place, a foul place.

"Through this mirror you may watch, or you may travel. Either way, it will follow Fionna wherever she goes in the present moment."

I saw her, hanging limp over the shoulder of a demon, her whole torso bound tightly and her weapons stripped from her. Lilly was being carried in the arms of another demon, her body as limp as her mothers, and Marshall and Ember were being led on chains by a very… succubus-like woman. What the lump was going on?

"Where are they going?" Felix asked, throwing out the question I wanted to ask.

"All I can see—no… all I can _feel_ is danger. The shadow queen knows I'm watching. I am sorry, Felix, but I cannot see anything more than that," Seeress said, dipping her head down and taking a step back from the mirror.

Felix and I both walked up to the portal that was fully open, watching our family be led down this dank, dark hallway, wondering what was happening. "Seeress," I started, my thoughts beginning to form clearly.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Can I reach in and pull them out?" I asked, wanting so badly to just pull them right through the mirror.

"No. The portal is one way. Once you're through, you must find your way back." She sighed, turning her small frame to me as if she could see me. "Even if you were to pull them out, Marshall would be forced to return. Everything would be in vain."

"The amulet…" Felix said, his tone saying he connected the dots before I did.

"Yes. The amulet binds him to the Nightosphere until his strength is torn from him. He has very little options," Seeress answered, keeping her open gaze on me.

"Then we wait. We wait for the right time to go in. If your mother has taught me anything, it's that all things have a time and place. Especially in battle. Felix?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Get your shield. It's time that you show the world that you can fight _and_ rule."

He nodded at me, swiftly turning on his heel and almost running towards the armory. There was no doubt anywhere in his mind that we weren't going to do this. If only we could all be so lucky.

"Your Highness," Seeress said in a low voice, staying as quiet as possible after a few minutes of silence passed between us.

"You can call me Gumball, Seeress," I said, trying to avoid what I knew was coming.

"You are aware of Marshall's predicament, are you not?" she asked, avoiding my attempt to change the subject.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, releasing the building stress in my head. "That amulet… it'll kill him no matter what he does, won't it?"

"Your girls are not immortal. It would not take to them. He is the last of the Abadeer line, and he has no way out."

"He wouldn't let them have that damned curse, anyway. He would never let his children take his burden."

She turned to face the mirror, her eyes searching the universe once more. "His future has always been set. The only one with the power to change it for him… is her…" Seeress nodded to the sleeping Fionna, helpless and bound tightly as she was carried away to what was sure to be danger.

"She has always been his soul mate…" I said, letting my mind drift to memories of them together.

"So have you, my king. There was never a future without the three of you together in harmony. I have watched your lives play out in every direction since I came to exist. Make no mistake; this is always how it was meant to be."

I smiled to myself, focusing on the mirror in front of me, watching my wife and family carefully. "Thank you, Seeress. For everything."

"No need to thank me, Gumball. Fionna has saved my life when it was meant to end. That in itself is enough to prove that she has the power to break any fate."

I thought about her words for a little while, absorbed in the silence and the scene playing out in front of me. We were _always_ meant to be together. Way back when, when we first started seeing each other, never did I ever imagine it would turn out this way. At first I thought she would reject me and leave me for Marshall. They were always flirting together and going on adventures, and I didn't stand a chance. Even I thought he was attractive. But when she told me it was both of us or nothing, I accepted it. Secretly, I hoped it would get me closer to the man I used to love as a teenager.

Then, that night… that night Marshall and I rekindled a flame I thought burnt out so long ago…

I chuckled to myself at the thought. Seeress was right. No matter how things would have happened, they would have always ended up here. All because of Fionna.

Now… now I had the chance to help her save someone. Our someone. Our Marshall.


	14. Chapter 14: Answers

**Fionna**

Uuuugh, glob! Why does my head hurt? And why… why can't I move my hands? How am I moving? Is that—is that the ground I'm seeing move under me?

I struggled and squirmed, but something grasped me hard, keeping me still. I looked around frantically, trying to recollect what had happened. It was obvious I was bound and I was being carried, but where was I? How did I get here? I lifted my head up to see something besides the floor and the sweaty back of whoever was carrying me, and saw Ember and Marshall's defeated faces, their eyes glued to the floor.

_That's right… they knocked out Lilly, and then they knocked me out…_

Both of their faces were beaten and bloody, and they were bound with chains and collars, being led by someone who was in front of the person carrying me.

"Stop your wrigglin', human," a gruff voice said, vibrating through both our bodies.

Marshall looked up and made eye contact with me. One of his eyes was swelling just a little underneath, and his lip had been bleeding pretty badly. How long was I out?

With all my might, I swung my legs up, then sent them crashing into the torso of the demon carrying me. He hurdled me forward, hunching over and gripping his stomach. I landed on the floor, sliding and hitting against a wall. I only had a moment to take everything in; that succubus leading Ember and Marshall, the identical demon to the one carrying me holding Lilly in his arms, still knocked out, the way everyone was bound up tight, and the small army of demons following after us. I didn't have my sword, or my dagger. I felt naked, and for a moment I felt helpless.

That feeling was kicked out of me when a shiny, high-heeled boot smashed into my face. I spat blood as I fell over, hoping I didn't lose any teeth. Again I struggled to sit up, to look at the woman who nearly snapped my neck with the sheer force of her kick.

"Don't be a bad girl, human. Or else the next person to get a kick to the face won't be you." The succubus, Sal, nodded her head to the guard carrying Lilly. He walked over to her, bending down slightly so Lilly, still passed out, was at just the right height to get the wrath of her boot.

"You hurt my daughters and I'll make you eat those heels," I sneered, spitting out another mouthful of blood.

"Oh, how feisty!" she squealed, like my threat excited her. She yanked on one of the chains she held, forcing Marshall to fly forward and fall to his knees next to her. "And what would you do to me if I were to do something… less painful… to your loved ones?"

In a sickeningly sexual gesture, she bent down and grabbed Marshall's chin, holding him still, and ran her purple forked tongue up his cheek. He forced his face away from her, and I could almost see the chill go up his spine.

"Sal…" that gruff voice of my guard said in a low tone, subtly trying to get her attention.

"Don't correct me, maggot! Hannah can say all she wants, but I _will_ have the king as my plaything!"

Marshall chuckled, sarcastic and un-amused. "I wouldn't have you as my pet, I wouldn't take you as my master, so what makes you think I'll be your plaything?"

Sal hissed, her fury actually changing the air flow around her, causing her long, shiny black hair to fly wildly around her. "You are in no position to make assumptions, Fallen King!" she screeched. In a flash of speed and power, she slammed her heel into Marshall's face, forcing him to the floor and pinning his head between her foot and the tile. I screamed for him, and Ember tried to lunge, but was caught in mid-air by the chains that bound her and thrown to the ground.

"Release him, Sal," a serious, ominous voice echoed through the hall. Slowly, almost unnoticeably, the shadows began to pool in front of her, rising up to create some sort of pseudo-demon figure with red glowing eyes. Just like the shadow soldiers.

Immediately she removed her heel from Marshall's face and stood up straight and proper, bowing slightly to the shadow with one arm across her chest and the other firmly at her side. "I apologize, Your Highness, but the king—"

"Should be brought to me immediately. You've had your warning, succubus. I'll not warn you again." Hannah's voice almost boomed through the shadow, casting a menacing feel into the air around us.

Sal bowed again and whispered, "Understood," before she bent to lift Marshall from the floor and set him on his feet. The shadow watched as she did, staring her down with disgust and malice. I guess I wasn't the only one who found Sal to be beyond obnoxious. With a strong yank, she had Ember up from the floor as well, both hers and Marshall's chains in her stiff, unyielding claws. The same guard from before came over and gently scooped me into his arms, holding me the way his twin held Lilly. From the outside it probably looked like a sweet gesture, but tactically, I had almost no way to wriggle away from him.

The shadow figure turned with exactness and precision, wisps of the darkened air falling behind it. Slowly it began to glide down the hall, leading us to wherever it was we were supposed to go. I tried to look past the guard carrying me to see Marshall and Ember, but all I got was glimpses of their downcast faces and their black-as-night hair. Then I tried to get a look at Lilly, but I was faced with the same problem: only glimpses.

Everyone was quiet as we walked, even that infuriating succubus. The shadow had a forlorn feel to it, like the shadow itself could take us all out if it felt irritated enough. We all knew it was Hannah animating a shadow to do her dirty work and the thing probably couldn't do more than move back and forth, but still, it was close to terrifying.

Soon enough we arrived at a set of massive black wooden doors. The shadow stopped in front of them, then turned sharply again to face us. "Send in the human, first," it said, then fell into a puddle once more on the floor.

The guard dug his fingers into my bindings, being able to hold me up in midair with one hand. Sal opened the doors for him to drop me in, dissatisfaction and frustration on her face, but her eyes never meeting mine. With a plop, the guard dropped me into what looked sort of like an office. It had a desk with a chair on either side, and what looked to be an old-world computer with a glowing screen on top of it.

The chair behind the desk was turned around, facing an opened window that looked out over the Nightosphere. Slowly, it creaked and turned, revealing Hannah sitting in it and a look on her face that was less than reassuring.

"Tell me, human girl, what is it that you wish to do here?" Her voice was calm, collected, like she was talking to a business partner or like she'd been planning this for a long time.

"I bet you can guess, Hannah. You've known we were here the whole time," I retorted, pushing myself up against a wall so I didn't look so pathetic lying on the floor.

She smiled, a small, insignificant gesture, and stood up from her chair. She crossed her fingers in front of her and glided around the desk, leaning up against it as if she was actually relaxing. "You want to take Marshall back to the Upperworld. That much was obvious. What I'm interested in is finding out how you plan to do such a thing."

I bit my lip and scowled at her, not letting her get through to my thoughts. Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do. I wanted to destroy the amulet, like I destroyed those relics so long ago, but it can't be destroyed. I thought about killing Hannah, but what good would that do? This whole mess… it made me so unsure of myself. "I won't tell you. You don't deserve to know."

Hannah raised one slender, clean finger to her lips, looking me up and down like she was judging my worth. "So I see. You have no plan. You just forced your way in here and hoped things would work out, like they always have. Your reputation as a lucky woman precedes you, Fionna the Human, but make no mistake; it was _all_ luck. And in the Nightosphere, luck does not exist."

"You're wrong! I _will_ save him from this place! I _will_ bring my family back!"

Like air, she appeared in front of me, her furious glare boring into my face. "Stupid cur! You should have taken my offer. Would not your memories be so much easier to handle, had Marshall not been in them? Wouldn't you have been able to live your life in peace and prosperity, had you forgotten about my son? Why would a wretched thing like you bother with something you cannot possibly hope to understand?"

"Because a life without Marshall is no life at all! He is a part of us! And no matter how much we do and do not remember about him, without him, a piece of our family would always be missing," I cried out, hanging my head and letting my hair fall loosely around my face.

She was silent for a moment, looking me over again. I could feel her eyes on me, questioning me and my motives. "After all these years, you're still a love-sick child. It sickens me."

I didn't answer her. I couldn't. What she said didn't matter to me. I didn't care what she thought of me because she never had my respect to begin with. What flooded my mind was what she'd done. "How could you? How could you sacrifice your own child to this curse? What kind of mother would leave her son to take her burdens?" I whispered to the floor, letting the words come out strained but strong.

"And what would you know of my burdens, girl? What would you know about the dealings of demons?" she spat. I looked up at her, my eyes peering at her through my lashes, to see her arms crossed and her face angered.

"I don't care what burden it is or what creature you are, _NO_ mother should _ever_ make their children a sacrifice. Mothers don't do that, Hannah! Mothers protect their children! Mothers make the sacrifices! Not the other way around! It's what we do!" I screamed it at her and waited for her reply. She just glared down at me, a sneer breaking the composure of her perfect and still face. "So answer me, Hannah Abadeer. Answer my question. How could you?"

"My motives are none of your concern—"

"You _made_ it my concern when you took my children's father from them, Hannah! Now answer my question!"

"Fine, you insolent rat! You want an answer? Here it is: I never wanted a child. Ever. And I never expected to have one. When my mother handed the amulet down to me, I swore I would wear it until my last breath. Believe it or not, human, at one time my heart wasn't rotted to the core. I didn't want to pass that amulet down. The power was indescribable, but the pain, the constant drain on my immortality—I didn't want anyone else to have to endure it. But then the years went by, and century after century I could feel myself grow weaker, grow feeble. It was not at all how I imagined it to be. The strain of running the Nightosphere coupled with the weight of the amulet turned my flesh and blood heart to stone. I lost my ability to care about others. All I had left was the drive to rule them. The power had consumed me, corrupted me. And so, when the opportunity came to create a being to take my burdens, I had no questions in my mind. It was a necessary step, a business venture, something to protect my well-being. It didn't matter what it was or how I acquired it, so long as someday I could be released from this imprisonment the amulet placed on me." She reached for her neck, the place where the amulet would have been if she was wearing it. Her carefully plastered face was beginning to crack.

"But… Marshall is half vampire. And you said his father had to bite him… if you really just wanted someone to help you make an object to take your burdens, why didn't you choose another demon?" I asked, feeling so absorbed in her truth that I forgot what I was here for.

"I was still naïve. That is the only explanation. I sought out… I looked for a being that could show my… vessel… compassion, so that maybe, when the time came, my child could take the sacrifice I couldn't. Marshall's father was a human. A stupid, love-sick human, like you. He dreamed of a family, of a loving wife and happy child. I suppose, at some skewed point in time, I wanted that, too. But I was the Queen of the Shadows, Ruler of the Nightosphere. I realized that quickly and remembered my purpose. My heart went cold long ago, so there was no point in warming it now." She sighed heavily, then slowly walked to the chair in front of the desk, sitting down in a proper position. "Marshall was born mortal. He had the gifts and talents of a demon, and he had Abadeer blood, but the amulet would only take to an immortal to feed on. So, I abandoned him. He was a failed project, nothing more. I decided I would try again at some other time, but for now, I would leave him with his human father and let him die in the Mushroom wars."

My heart sank into my churning, nauseous stomach. She was worse than I thought.

"Marshall's father was… not willing to let me leave him behind. He said, _'If you can't love me, at least love our son!'_ That's when the idiot left Marshall behind to go in search of a way to make him immortal."

"And that must have been when Marshall met Sam," I interrupted, connecting the dots.

"Yes, the Ice Queen. I was contented to leave Marshall with her. She seemed to make him happy, and for whatever reason, he was able to hold her sanity for far longer than was expected. But that idiot of a man, his father… he came back when Marshall was 19. He'd searched the world for the secret to immortality, but all he found was that grotesque disease of vampirism. He bit Marshall, letting the virus sweep through him. Marshall only had a very slim chance of survival. Vampires and demons don't mix well to begin with. But, for whatever reason, his human side absorbed the vampire disease, and he gained what I thought he could not. His immortality." Hannah leaned back in the chair, her neat, perfect bun pressing unnaturally against the leather. "His father begged me to take him back, to make him the prince he was. Out of a lack of will to make another child, I accepted. The amulet took to him well enough, and he had the will to rule the Nightosphere. I looked at my options and realized that he was my best one."

I stared at her in disbelief, searching her rock-hard face with my tear-filled eyes. I didn't know what to think of it. I couldn't make sense of it. "So—so if you left him during the wars because he wasn't immortal, then why did you threaten to take my daughters?"

"I never intended to take your mutt daughters here. They would have been no use. They're not immortal, and I knew that. Marshall knew that, too," she said, finding the energy to glance my way.

"Wait, if Marshall knew, then why—"

"He is not as empty-headed as he would have you believe. He played along with my plan that night because he knew that the only way to keep you all safe was to give up. He knew what lengths I would have gone to to free myself from the burden of the amulet."

"You're sick," I whispered, contained rage and sadness infecting my voice. "You're just—just _horrible_!"

She chuckled at me, laughing almost, and sat up straight in the chair again. This time her cold, lifeless eyes gleamed at me, a wicked smile curling onto her lips. "I hope you didn't _just_ figure this out, dear Fionna."

I turned my head away, not letting her see my face. I heard her stand up, her heels clinking on the floor as she walked towards me. "You asked for an answer, and I gave you the truth. Now that you have your answer, here is my question to you…"

She bent down in front of me, forcing her face into my view so I couldn't look away.

"How do you plan on saving him this time, Fionna the Human?"


	15. Chapter 15: His Decision

If I were younger, I probably would have taken the time to spit in Hannah's face. To think that anyone could see their own children as a means to an end, as a sacrificial lamb to save their own skin… I don't care how kind-hearted she may have been at one point. She was evil now, and I would never allow evil to tear my family apart.

Hannah stood above me, towering over me as I sat helplessly bound against the wall. I didn't know how to reply to her. I didn't know what to do or where to take this. She cornered me with my own questions, and I was out of time.

_THUD!_

Something big crashed against the door, breaking our stare-off and forcing Hannah's attention to whatever was happening outside. As soon as the thud hit, it seemed like there was an on-pour of shouting and screaming and things crashing into other things. My heart leaped, terrified that something had happened to my girls or Marshall. Quickly, Hannah rushed to the doors and I tried my best to get myself up on my feet.

Just as Hannah reached the doors they flew open, Lilly literally flying through them and over Hannah, her daggers bloodied and her cat-like body already in attack mode. She hit the ground sprinting, holding out her blades and leaning to her side so that when the blade hit me, I was released from the grasp of the whip bindings again.

"Lilly! How did you-?"

"Come on, Mom, did you really think I was _sleeping_ this whole time?" she teased, sheathing one of her daggers so she could reach for my belt that hung around her torso. She threw me my sword and dagger, and in one fluid motion I unsheathed Red Death, holding in front of me and ready to attack.

"Where's your father and sister?"

"Taking care of the entourage outside," she answered quickly, her eyes locked on Hannah. Lilly and Ember both had been itching for this moment since the second they found out what happened to Marshall. They wanted so badly to get the chance to sink a blade into that cold bitch's heart, and I was right in line with them.

Hannah stood frozen in front of us, stuck between her calm composure and her reflex to attack or flee. Just then, Ember slid into the room, blood covering her shoes and clothes so that as she slid, her feet left skid marks of blood on the tiles. Her giant axe was in her hands, her hair was all over the place, and the gleam in her eyes said she finally had the chance to take out all her anger with no consequences.

Marshall flew in just after her with Sal trapped in his grip, slamming the doors closed behind him and lighting the torches in the room just with his presence. He threw the succubus across the bloodied floor, landing her at Hannah's feet.

"Your guard is dead, Mother," Marshall said in a cold, unwavering voice. He was also covered in blood, and the areas where the chains bound him looked red and swollen. Ember had the same problem, but the sleeves Marshall's shirt that she wore slid down to her wrists easily when she wasn't pushing them up.

"Y—your majesty! They—they killed them all! That one! The blue-eyed one! She… out of nowhere she just flew out of Orin's arms and landed on his shoulders, breaking his neck with her thighs! She set the others free! I—I couldn't stop her! Hannah, I—" Sal stuttered as she slipped on the blood pooling around her.

"That's enough, Sal. You have made it apparent that you cannot even handle two mixed breed children and a fallen prince. You've failed." Hannah glared at Sal with disgust and malcontent, as if Sal were the most hideous thing she'd ever seen.

"But—but Hannah!"

"That's ENOUGH!" Hannah's foot went crashing into Sal's bare stomach, the force of it making her fly through the air and crash into the wall where the rubble and dust fell with her.

I held my sword ready and poised, pointed straight for Hannah's heart. Her death may not solve anything, but it would make us all feel a hell of a lot better. "Tell us how to end this, Hannah. How do we get Marshall back?" I said coolly, trying to not let this escalate any further.

"Petty fool! Do you think I would have given him that damn amulet had I known how to escape it? The only way to get him back is to make one of your mixed breed brats immortal and have them wear it!" Hannah screamed, her composure melting around her, to the point that even her hair was beginning to fall from its tight, neat bun. "If you want him so bad, let him give up his immortality and take his lifeless body with you," she growled.

From the corner of my eye I could see Ember seething. She was losing her focus and control, and all of her anger was channeling into her axe. "How _dare_ you speak about my father like that," she hissed, gripping her axe tighter.

There was a fraction of a second where everything happened at once. Ember lunged for Hannah, I screamed her name and tried to hold her back, and everyone in the room shifted to attacking positions. Hannah shrouded herself in the shadows, calling them to shield and surround her. They lifted her in the air as if she were in the center of a dark geyser, giving her the look of having all the power in the world. Ember swung her massive axe with speed and precision, nicking Hannah's ankle but missing everything else.

She really did lose a lot of her power without that amulet. Not even Marshall could have touched her before.

Lilly sprung up from behind me, and like perfectly coordinated acrobats, she landed on Ember's shoulders, then together they pushed her off into the air, her daggers ready to cut into Hannah. Just like before, Lilly was only able to knick Hannah's shoulder before Hannah sent a massive hammer-like shadow to slam into Lilly.

I darted for her, getting there just in time for her to fall into my arms. Hannah screeched into the room, the sound reverberating through the whole palace. By now half of the Nightosphere knew what was happening. The shadows around Hannah whipped and swirled around is like sharp slices of air, cutting us little by little. I had the feeling that if she were wearing the amulet, we would have all been mincemeat by now. Ember came flying over to help Lilly and myself up, but Marshall was nowhere to be seen. I looked frantically for him, lost in the rage of the shadows that lashed around us.

There was a loud scream, and suddenly the shadows dissipated and regrouped back around Hannah. Marshall was there, right behind her, his eyes fully glowing red, his fangs plunged into her neck, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders and torso. She wailed and struggled, but as long as he wore the amulet, she could never get free from his strength.

Slowly they began to fall to the ground, the shadows that held her up fading back into the darkened corners of the room. She sounded like she was choking on her own blood, but her body grew more limp by the second until finally, as they reached the floor, she wasn't moving at all.

Marshall let go of her and withdrew his fangs from her neck, wiping her blood from his mouth on his shirt sleeve. She fell to the ground, her breathing ragged and her eyes wide open, but her body totally paralyzed. He looked down on her with pity and disgust, panting at the effort it took to constrain her.

"Dad… what… what did you do?" Lilly asked, looking shocked and horrified. Her and Ember had grown to see Hannah as this terrifying, unbeatable woman, and then their father does this. What were they to think?

"I bit her and injected her with vampire venom. It won't kill her, but it'll paralyze her with pain for a long, long time. Demons and vampires don't mix well," he said coldly, as if he were telling it to Hannah.

Her wide eyes shifted slowly towards him, looking up at him with shock and surprise. She was in pain. A lot of pain.

We all looked down at Hannah, this powerful, mastermind of a woman now feeble and unable to rise from the floor. For so long, all of us had wanted this; to see her dead or dying. She was the reason for so much of our pain, but… but it wasn't satisfying at all.

"Marshall, she looks…" I started, walking over to him to grab his hand in mine.

"… pathetic. I know. But I couldn't think of any other way without killing her," he finished for me.

Ember and Lilly floated over to us, Ember taking Marshall's other hand and Lilly taking mine. We'd come so far and subdued the woman we pinned our revenge on, but that didn't solve our problems.

"So… now what?" I asked into the still air around us. It was the question no one really wanted to face, because it meant that we hadn't really accomplished anything we set out to do.

"Now… now I give up my immortality," he said, letting go of mine and Ember's hands.

"Wait, what? Marshall, no! You can't! I mean… that would kill you!" I cried, trying to look him in the eye. He had his head turned down so I couldn't see his face very well.

"It might, but I would rather end the curse now and die here, with my family, than have it suck my life away 3,000 years from now when I'm alone and bitter," he said, his voice solemn and his composure relaxed. He'd been planning this. He knew he would do this.

We all looked at him in horror and sadness, not really sure what to say or how to react.

The air shifted around us, bending and twisting and ripping open right behind me. I took a step back, unsure of what was happening, holding my sword out in case it was something that needed to be fought. As if the dimension itself became pudding, Gumball pushed his way into the room, stepping through a portal that we couldn't see. Following close behind was Felix, both of their faces filled with sadness and depression.

"How did you…?" Lilly started, but she was cut short. They weren't going to answer her. Gumball and Felix both walked up to Marshall, wrapping their arms around him. Felix had tears running down his face, and Gumball looked like he was about to break.

Marshall, after getting over the surprise of Felix and Gumball appearing out of thin air, kissed the top of Felix's head, then turned to lift Gumball's chin so he could kiss him on the lips.

"We've been watching you this whole time," Gumball said into Marshall's shirt, gripping him tightly. "We were waiting for the right time to jump in and help, but…"

"Marshall, please don't go! Don't leave us again," Felix whimpered, pulling away and looking up at his other father.

"I'm glad you're here. I'm glad everyone is here. I couldn't do this without you all," Marshall replied, letting go of Gumball and holding out his arm for the rest of us to join them.

I took Embers hand, still gripping Lilly's, and closed the gap between us. The six of us stood there, together for the first time in 3 years, holding each other and silently crying. Marshall was right. I would rather see him die happy right now than die alone and miserable thousands of years from now. I think everyone felt that way. No one wanted to say it, but we all felt it; this was Marshall's choice, and he chose to take that risk.

At least…

At least we could all be together one last time…


	16. Chapter 16: The Amulet

Marshall took the time to say goodbye to each and every one of us. All three of the children, even Lilly, were blubbering messes. Gumball almost wouldn't let go, and I… I didn't know what to say.

I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I wasn't ready to accept defeat. Even here, against all the odds, I still believed that somehow, some way, we were going to get past this. That Marshall was going to live, despite the reality of the situation.

Finally, the time came. We could hear the discord in the streets below and the rumble of guards coming to find out what happened. Hannah was still lying nearly dead on the floor, and Sal was buried under a pile of dust and rubble in the corner. We didn't have much time, and we wanted to do it as peacefully as possible.

"Fionna, let me see your sword," Marshall asked, his voice mellow and sweet. It sounded like… peace. Like he'd come to terms with something that the rest of us couldn't understand yet.

Silently I handed him my sword, feeling like I was in a daze, like this was just a really, really bad dream that I had yet to wake up from. He took my hand and my sword, and gently laid a kiss on my knuckles. "Thank you," he whispered, then took a few steps back so that none of us were too close.

He picked up the amulet, then, in the spot where it once hung, he took Red Death and sliced his chest open, letting the blood trickle down his torso and join to the blood of the demons he slaughtered earlier. All of us gasped, not sure what to do or how to react. So instead, we just watched.

Marshall laid the amulet back down, letting the gold and blood mingle, even though it pained him to have anything touch that area. He looked as though he was about to recite something, whatever it was the amulet needed to complete the process, but he was interrupted by the sound of the rubble moving around from the corner of the room.

Slowly, painfully, the succubus rose from the dust. She was gripping her bruised torso with one arm, her lip swollen and bleeding and her body looking broken. Her breathing was harsh and ragged, but it didn't stop her from glaring at us like we were the reason she was in so much pain. "You—you can't… d—don't…" she stuttered as she tried to breathe past her words.

"You've got some nerve, lady," I said, drawing my dagger and getting ready to just end her miserable existence.

"That amulet… it won't… it won't stop… It needs—a host…" She grabbed onto the hole her body made in the wall and pulled herself up, leaning heavily against it. It was obvious that just breathing was a burden to her.

"You've been weaseling your way around the Nightosphere for centuries, Sal. What makes you think I'd listen to you now?" Marshall demanded, wincing at the pain of his chest moving.

"Do it—if you must, but I warn you… it will come back…" she grunted, spitting blood onto the rubble at her feet.

"It can't come back to what's already dead," Marshall retorted. Then he grabbed the bloodied amulet in his hand, ripped it from his neck, and fell to his knees. He slid my sword to me, the hilt still wet with his blood, then held the amulet in the air above him.

"Meum dabo in maledictionem, et immortalitatis, ut liberi esse finem huius carceris. Ut biberent sanguinem tuum, et non extinguetur liberemur!"

In less than a second, his words turned to white light and the amulet turned red darkness. The two of them clashed, creating a burst of wind and energy that scattered us all across the room. All I could hear was his voice and the wind screaming around me. It sounded like pain. It sounded like agony and misery, but it was so strong that I couldn't push myself through it. I couldn't get to him.

I looked to my left and saw Gumball and Ember huddled together against the wall, protecting themselves and each other from the massive force of continuous energy. I looked to my right and saw Lilly hiding her face in her arm, and Felix next to her, taking it all in. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew what was happening, and he knew what Marshall said.

Then, in the corner, I saw her. Sal. For someone who was on the verge of death only a moment ago, her wicked smile and confident composure told me a totally different story. As the light and darkness bursting from Marshall grew stronger, so did she.

Wait a minute.

The original Abadeer was dealt this curse by a succubus… who made the amulet... and who fed on entire kingdoms…

_Oh my glob!_

The epiphany was written all over my face, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Felix saw it, too. This was her plan all along! She _wanted_ someone to give up their immortality!

"Marshall! Stop it! Stop!" I screamed into the lashing winds, trying to see his frame past the bright and darkened lights. It was no use. He couldn't hear me, and I couldn't see him. Not from where I was.

But Gumball… Gumball could see it. Gumball saw it all. I looked at him, panic in my eyes, my face telling him what I'd learned too late. As if he could read everything I was thinking, his face, too, took on the look of realizing it all too late.

"Ember! Throw me at Marshall!" I heard him yell through the bursting winds that lashed and bit at us. She looked shocked, surprised, but she was compliant. Slowly she stood, holding Gumball up with her, using the wall and the wind to keep her pinned upright. Quickly, I looked to Sal to see if she noticed us, if she knew that we knew. All that showed on her face was her triumphant smile and her eyes taking in the glory of her success. She thought she won.

There was a disruption. Something changed in the flow of force coming from Marshall. The winds began to hit us in hard waves instead of a constant stream of power. Something wasn't right. Ember picked up on the change quickly, and so did I. I used the lull to force myself closer to him, and Ember used it to throw Gumball at him.

In the exact same moment, we reached him. I threw myself onto his whitening torso, seeing up-close that the white light that shot out of him was coming from his eyes and mouth, like it was flowing from within him. Gumball took hold of the amulet, breaking it away from Marshall's grasp and disconnecting the red darkness from the white light. Everything shook and rumbled around us. The earth quaked and the building began to crumble. Bits of the roof began to cave, and the floor was falling out from beneath us little by little.

"NO! What have you done!" Sal screeched from behind us. "You've ruined it! I was so close! SO CLOSE!"

I only had a second to see her tense her legs. She was going to lunge for us, for the amulet. In a moment of incredible quickness, even for me, I swung around and grabbed the amulet from Gumball. Just as I did, her hard, angry body crashed into me. She wrapped her arms tightly around me, and together we went flying out of the window.

We were plummeting. I didn't know if she could fly and planned to save herself after she dropped me, or if she was going to kill us both. I didn't have time to figure it out.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, HUMAN!" she shrieked, lunging for my shoulder with her teeth. She bit into me hard, still growling and panting even as my tendons began to rip and shred under her bite.

I screamed out, struggling to get free even though I knew I'd die once I landed. We must have been close to the ground now.

I forced my arm free, and in my hand was the amulet. I didn't have time to think, all I could do was act. With all the willpower I had left, I tore my shoulder from her teeth. Then, before she knew what I was doing, I slipped the chain of the amulet over her head.

Her eyes went wide and her body went limp. Even her bloodied mouth hung open as she dropped me. She stopped in mid-air, but I didn't. I still fell, and as I did, I smiled at her. I had beat her at her own game.

I closed my eyes and accepted that I was hurdling towards the earth, that smile still on my face. Even the pain raging in my shoulder wasn't enough to make me feel defeated. For some reason, I felt like everything had just changed.

A force flew into me, snatching me up, and changing our direction. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ground dangerously close, but getting further and further from me. I looked up and saw Ember's worried face peering down at me.

"Mom! Are you okay?!" she cried, carrying us into the air and towards the palace. I didn't answer her. All that I could see was the palace crumbling building by building, knowing that my family was still inside.

Ember darted us through the window, setting me down on my feet as my shoulder and arm hung limply at my side. There on the floor I saw Marshall, pale and unmoving, laying in Gumball's lap with Lilly and Felix by his side.

Gumball looked up at me, tears in his eyes and a small smile on his face. "He's not dead! He survived it! He's still breathing!" he cried, holding Marshall's head tightly.

I smiled, laughed even, and started taking my steps over to them. I fell on my knees next to them, peering down into his barely alive face. Gumball was right. He did survive.

"What have you done to me, human?!" that familiar, ear-piercing voice wailed from behind me. Sal was floating in the window, the amulet firmly planted on her chest, her breathing heavy and labored.

Ember reached for her axe, ready to strike, and I picked up Red Death in my only working arm. My other arm was completely dead. I couldn't even feel it now.

"You said it would need a new host, right? Well I gave it one!" I screamed it at her, holding my sword towards her.

"NO! No! It wasn't supposed to happen like this! It was supposed to give me his immortality, so that I could live forever! You ruined it!" she screeched again, clawing at her chest to get it off. It held there securely, not moving a single centimeter. "I'll KILL YOU ALL!"

She spread her arms wide, and as if she was pushing something towards us, the air slammed into the side of the building, rocking it unsteadily and causing more of the roof to fall over us. I tucked Ember under me so the debris wouldn't fall on her, then turned back to see that Gumball and Lilly did the same for Marshall. Felix even covered the paralyzed Hannah with his body, protecting her as well.

"Mom! We have to get out of here! Quickly! Before the whole palace falls on us!" Felix yelled to me, holding up Hannah in his arms.

Sal shoved another wave into the building, rocking us even more. The wall with the window on it crumbled completely, leaving us all open for her attacks. I looked around frantically for something, anything to get us out of here safely. Ember and Lilly couldn't fly us out, and I didn't have the time or resources to draw a portal.

"Mom! Do something!" Lilly cried, holding Marshall protectively as the roof began to fall around them.

Then, out of nowhere, the air… ripped. It pulsed around us and tore open, sort of like it did when Gumball and Felix arrived. Out of the blackness of swirling colors and changing air currents came a massive furry pay, one I recognized easily.

It scooped up Gumball, Marshall, Lilly, Felix and Hannah first, pulling them screaming back through the portal. I pulled Ember with me and ran after it, not waiting to see what it was doing or where it was going. Whatever was happening, that paw had my family and it was going somewhere better than here.

Sal, seeing this all happen, screamed one last time, and with an unbeatable force, she broke off the top of the palace. Ember and I had just enough time to run through the portal before the palace completely collapsed and the portal closed tight after us.

We all made it.

We were safe.


	17. Chapter 17: Human

Ember and I emerged from the portal, landing in the cold, hard dirt of a very familiar mountain crater. A very warm and very strong set of arms wrapped around me 4 or 5 times, bringing me to stand on my feet. When I finally gathered my bearings, I looked around me for the first time.

Seeress was there, standing in front of a massive mirror, a smile on her face and the bandages around her eyes. Cake was there with Lord, tears in her eyes as she pulled herself towards us. Lilly and Felix were standing there, each taking an arm of the paralyzed Hannah and holding her up between them. Then there was Ember, standing tall and looking proud, but only a little shaken from all that just happened.

Gumball and Marshall were sitting against the edge of the crater, Marshall looking like he was sleeping against Gumball's chest. He looked pale and weak, but not dead. No, he wasn't dead.

"Welcome back, Royal Family," Seeress's small voice announced happily from next to the mirror.

"Oh sweet babies! We made it just in time! I am so glad we were around when Seeress saw what happened, sugar!" Cake sang as she wrapped herself around Ember and I. I winced at the tear in my shoulder, the flesh still burning, and Cake immediately unwrapped herself. "Girl, what happened to your arm? That doesn't look very good!"

"I tore it out of a crazy succubus's jaw before I sentenced her to her own hellish eternity," I answered dully, almost as if I wasn't there. All I could really focus on was the small movements of Marshall's chest and wonder why this happened.

"Aunt Cake! You and Seeress saved us! Thank you so much!" Ember shouted, jumping onto her small aunt like she was a small child again.

I walked past them briskly, finally finding the strength to move forward. I just had to be close to them, to see his life still coursing through his veins. The blood stained his shirt, but the cut wasn't healing the way it normally did. His skin was unusually pale, even for him. So much so that it didn't look bluish anymore. His eyes were closed and his breathing was light, but he was still there. And his fangs… they were gone! What the hay?

"Baby, we need to get him to the hospital! And you, too! All of you," Cake said, interrupting my train of thought. She was right. He may have survived the amulet, but there was no way to tell if he would survive that cut on his chest.

Cakes arms stretched out in front of me, getting into my narrowed vision, and gently scooped Marshall up. Gumball stood up with him as Cake carried Marshall onto Lord M's back. I climbed up there with him as best I could, my dead arm only serving as extra weight now. "Cake, can you take them all back to the palace?" I asked, my eyes glued to Marshall's face.

"Sure, baby," she said uneasily. She didn't question me, but she worried about me, and I knew it.

"But Mom! What about—" Felix started, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Take her to the palace, too. Throw her in the dungeon. We'll deal with her, later," I replied sharply. I really had no patience for Hannah. I just wanted to get Marshall somewhere safe.

"I'll take care of them, Fi. Don't you worry. Just get out of here," Cake soothed, scooping up everyone that was left into her massive Cake form.

I nodded a thank you to her, then leaned down and asked Lord to take us to the hospital. He wasted no time at all. Within a minute, we were in the air.

* * *

The moment we got to the hospital, we were all separated. Marshall needed to be put on a breathing apparatus, and they needed to stitch up his chest before he lost more blood. Gumball, as king of the Candy Kingdom, was taken into an examining room to make sure he was alright. I was rushed into surgery where they tried to repair my arm, but it was no use. It was dead. So, they removed it.

In the next few weeks I was put through massive amounts of rehabilitation with my new metal arm. I could have gone without another arm, but the people of Aaa couldn't have an incomplete hero. Besides, the thing looked awesome! It had five working, moving fingers, a wrist, an elbow, everything. It could have passed for a real arm, had it been flesh-colored. I liked the metallic look, though, so I kept it that way.

Marshall opened his eyes a month and a half later. The red in them had faded considerably, to the point where they were almost brown. All of us were there in the room when it happened, as we were most of the time. We all watched him patiently to see if he would recover, and when he opened his eyes for the first time, not one of us could hold in our excitement. We all stood over his bed, asking him questions and checking to see if he was alright. The clown nurse assigned to watch over him had to shoo us away so he could breathe. That first time, all he really did was smile before he closed his eyes again.

The next time he opened his eyes, Gumball and I were the only ones there. It was around 3 in the morning, so there was hardly any light except the dim lamp in the corner of the room. It all seemed so familiar, but I realized this had happened before. Except this time, I was the one looking over him.

Gumball noticed first, because I had already dozed off in my seat. "Marshy? Can you hear me?" The low sound of his whispering woke me, and I sat straight up, looking at Marshall's pale face from the bedside.

"H—hey, Bubba…" Marshall whispered back. "Didn't think… I'd see you guys… here with the Cosmic Owl…"

Gumballs eyes filled with tears as he leaned over Marshall, stroking the long, ragged hair from his face. I stood up and took his hand in mine, smiling at him past the tears. "No, sweetheart, you're not with the Cosmic Owl. You survived. You're here in Aaa," I explained quietly, doing it as gently as I could.

"In… Aaa? But… I thought…" His sentence trailed off as he began to lose energy.

"I know, that's what we thought, too. But you're here, and you're doing well," Gumball said, soothing the weakened man in the bed. "Marshall, you have to know. Doctor Prince ran tests on you, and… well…"

"You're no longer half vampire, Marshall," I said, finishing for Gumball.

It was true. The reason he was so pail and his fangs were gone and his eyes weren't as red was because the vampirism that infected his human side had completely vanished.

"S—so… I'm not immortal anymore?" he asked weakly, his face lazily twisting into confusion.

"No, you're not. The amulet took it all," Gumball explained, laying a kiss on Marshall's forehead.

"Oh…" he replied weakly, his eyes closing once more as his grip on my hand faded. He was falling back asleep.

I leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips, smiling as I did. "Get some sleep, Marshall. You deserve the rest," I whispered to him.

I don't think he even heard me say it. He was lightly snoring away once more, his body totally limp and his eyes closed. He was fast asleep again.

I stood up and walked over to Gumball, sitting myself gently in his lap in the chair on the other side of Marshall's bed. He wrapped his arms gently around me, still being careful around my metallic arm, but snuggling his face into my neck.

"He used to be human, you know," Gumball said into the still darkness of the room.

"Well, part of him was. The immortal part. Do you think…"

"I do. I think that's what happened in the Nightosphere. I think that, since he was mortal before, when the amulet took his immortality, it only took it from the immortal side of him."

I thought about it, turning it over and over in my head. It made sense. A lot of sense. But to me, it didn't really matter. More curious people would probably wonder about how he managed to survive something that was meant to kill him, but not me. I was just happy he was alive.

After a few moments of silence, I leaned my head on top of Gumballs, yawning and closing my eyes, taking in the fresh, sweet scent of his hair. "Do you think he'll be able to adjust? Losing your vampirism is a big deal, I'd say."

"We'll see. All we can do is be there for him. Since he's human again, maybe you could teach him what it means to be mortal. You would know that better than the rest of us."

"Why, because I'm a human?"

"Exactly," Gumball said, laying a gentle kiss on my collar. "He may not be fully human, but he's the closest we'll ever get to seeing another human around Aaa. You two will have that special bond."

"No, what we'll have is you. And the kids. THAT is what we'll hold dear. Like we always have," I said after thinking about it for a moment. "I don't care what he is. As long as he's still the Marshall we love."

Gumball raised his warm hand to my cheek, cupping it gently and pulling my face down to meet his. He gave me a sweet, gentle kiss, then pulled away and looked me in the eyes. "You're right. He will always be our Marshall."


	18. Chapter 18: Ever After

As the months went by, Marshall slowly regained his movement and energy. It was difficult for him at first, but eventually he learned to move and live again, except this time as a mortal.

Finn, Marcy, Bubblegum and all our friends from Ooo came to visit us when they heard what had happened. Marceline was fascinated with how we broke the curse on the Abadeer family with the amulet, and her and Bubblegum set out to find a way to end Marcy's curse, too. What they found shocked us all: the succubus, Sal, had cursed the Abadeer's of both worlds, and once Marshall had broken his curse, he also broke Marcy's. She didn't have to give up her immortality for it, though. In essence, Marshall saved the Abadeer's of Ooo as well as the Abadeer's of Aaa.

Marshall and I were released from the hospital the day before Felix's wedding. He and Sofia told us all at a special dinner we held in the hospital cafeteria a month after Marshall had woken up that they were going to be married. Gumball was so happy he cried, and even though Marshall tried to hide it, he shed a few tears, too. Bubblegum wept silently in joy like a proper lady, and Marcy and Finn nearly crushed the couple in excitement. Felix was our boy, our first little prince, and Sofia was their little girl. Now they were all grown up, and us old people couldn't contain ourselves.

The wedding was lavish and grand, the only way Gumball knew how to do it. Just like for our wedding, Gumball planned everything out. Down to the last detail. He let Bubblegum help a little, and Sofia even got to throw in some suggestions, but the whole thing was left to Gumball and his brilliant party-planning. Most of Aaa showed up for it, even though a lot of them didn't know where Sophia came from or why she looked so much like our family. They had a separate wedding in Ooo to please the crowds and the people later on, so that way they would be recognized as a married couple in both lands.

Ember and Gabe started dating, but only when she turned 16, like Marshall required. Gabe was the cool to Ember's hot, and together they created a powerful, unbreakable couple.

Gumball and I continued to rule the Candy Kingdom for just over two years after Felix and Sofia married. After that, he and I both decided to retire from our positions, and with Marshall we all moved to a cozy little house on the edge of Aaa. Cake and I still went on adventures, but not nearly as much as we used to. Gradually, my title of Hero of Aaa shifted from me to my girls. They took my place among the knights of the kingdoms, and did a fabulous job of keeping Aaa safe. They worked as an unstoppable pair, battling monsters and evil-doers like they were born to do it. Truly, I was the happiest mother alive.

Cake and Lord stuck around the palace for a while, helping out when they could, or just plain old disappearing into the wilds when they wanted peace. Cake was older than me, and she didn't have the strength or energy to keep up with the younger crowd. When she would come to visit, we would laugh like old ladies about the hooligan children that are running around now. Her kittens wandered off and scattered across the land, some of them becoming adventurers like us, some of them living quieter lives. For her and Lord, it was a happy existence that they had together.

Seeress stayed with Felix through his reign as the king's advisor. She never aged, but she always had a small smile on her pale, childish face. She was always ready and willing to see the future, the past, and even other dimensions for the new king and queen, giving them advice and helping them through the troubles that all sovereigns must go through. She was an asset to the Candy Kingdom, and eventually the fear that people had for her diminished. Seeress was happy. Truly happy. She still spoke in her rhymes and she kept to her mirrors in her room, but she was glad to have a new purpose in her life.

Sam and Simon disappeared after a while. They said they wanted to start their lives anew, together, and ventured off to live out the rest of their years collecting samples and exploring old relics of Aaa and Ooo. Together they compounded enough research on the old-world to open up a library of the past. With that library and their findings, the citizens of both worlds were able to look into what once was and understand where we all came from. Even humans began to gain a lot more respect because of it.

In their research, Sam and Simon also found why Aaa and Ooo were no longer directly parallel. It had never occurred to me that the timeline there and here were different, but once that research was brought to my attention, I understood. The moment I entered their world all those years ago, the paths of our universes crossed. We would never have a parallel timeline again, but that was alright. We enjoyed visiting each other and hearing stories that we didn't get to hear from our own worlds.

I had my first grandchild over a year after retiring. Sofia and Felix had a baby girl, who they named Fionna, after me. Marshall, Gumball and I were thrilled. We would spend weeks, even months at a time at the palace, just playing with our granddaughter. Gumball and I would run out of energy fairly quickly, as we were becoming older much faster than we ever thought.

But Marshall…

Marshall didn't exactly age the way we anticipated. As a matter of fact, we didn't really know what to expect of his aging process once he became mortal again. We thought maybe he would just start aging normally and continue growing past the 19 year mark. What actually happened was that he began aging twice as fast as the rest of us. In one year it looked like he aged 2, and in two years it looked like he aged 4. At the rate he was aging, he was sure to out-grow Gumball and I both. For a while it worried us all, but eventually we learned to deal with it.

We never heard from Sal again. We would send emissaries to the Nightosphere to check up on them, and even Ember and Lilly would go to see how things were. Everything was running smoothly down there. Or, at least, as smoothly as the demon underworld could be. Sal took over the throne and ruled with a terrifying iron fist. No one stood against her and her sick ways, but no one complained about it, either. We didn't know what would happen with that amulet of hers or when it would reappear in our world, but we knew to keep an eye out for it. It was dangerous and deadly, and so it was put into a list of things to watch for in the Meeting of Kings.

When Hannah regained her ability to move, she left the kingdom. She may have even left Aaa. She promised us she would be no threat, and that she just wanted to live out her eternity in peace. It took a lot of persuasion on mine and Gumball's part to keep Marshall and the girls from killing her on the spot, but eventually they eased up and let her be. Seeress might have opened a portal for her to leave, or she may have just gone and hid underground. We didn't know, and we didn't really care. Ember and Lilly were the protectors of Aaa, and they had no problem with killing Hannah if she ever tried to hurt anyone again.

We had all fought so hard for so much. As the years went by, we settled into a quieter life, living in harmony with each other and our family. It wasn't so important to fight anymore as it was to just enjoy what we had. All of the worst threats I've ever known, I had conquered. That was enough for me. My successes, my lovers, my children, and even my grandchildren were the fruit of my labors. I lived a long, happy, accomplished life, and I had nothing to complain about.

Truly, after all the mess, after all the trials and tribulations, after all the disaster and heart break and loss and war, after all that…

Gumball, Marshall and I finally had our happily ever after.

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! You made it! This was the final chapter to the final part of my ridiculously long Adventure Time series. I am so glad that you all took the time to read it, and those of you who were there to encourage and support me, well, I couldn't be more grateful. I hope each and every one of you were able to enjoy my stories, and that you all found something you liked. You guys made it so fun to write, and I'm happy I had the opportunity to write a story for you.**

I want to keep writing, but I don't know if I'll do another fan fiction. Of course, if I do, ya'll will be the first to know. 

**If anyone is interested in reading any more of my work, I'll be posting things to . I'm really excited to start on this new story I've been mulling over in my head for a month now. Here's my link:**

** ~intensityxintended **

**Again, thank you all so much for reading and being there for me. You guys are the greatest!**

**~~IntensityxIntended**


End file.
